Serbian police officer who revealed mission in Srebrenica 'unlawfully dismissed'

(Patria) - A court in Serbia has ruled that a police officer who gave a statement to the media about a covert and allegedly illegal deployment in Srebrenica in 2015 was unlawfully dismissed from service.

The Administrative Court of Serbia ruled that the disciplinary commission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Serbia must review the dismissal of police officer Mladen Trbović, who was accused of revealing official secrets, Detektor reports.

Trbović was dismissed in October 2016 for a “serious breach of official duty” because he allegedly failed to report to work for four days.

However, his union stated that he was actually dismissed because he revealed to the media that he and his colleagues were illegally deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 2015, when then-Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić attended a commemoration in Srebrenica.

Trbović then filed a lawsuit against the police over the dismissal, and the Administrative Court ruled that the dismissal violated the law. The decision was made on May 4, but was only published on Friday by the Sloga Police Union, which represented Trbović.

Trbović and his colleague Milan Dumanović told Al Jazeera Balkans in October 2016 that they were among 18 police officers sent to Srebrenica to secretly record the commemoration.

They said they believed the deployment was illegal because Bosnia and Herzegovina was not informed that they were working as police officers.

That year, the commemoration marked the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. Some of those present threw stones and water bottles at Vučić, forcing him to flee.

Trbović and Dumanović were arrested in December 2016. Both were dismissed. They are still on trial for “revealing state secrets”.

The Sloga Police Union claims that the disciplinary proceedings against Trbović and Dumanović were initiated because of what they revealed.

“Instead of protecting these colleagues as whistleblowers, they were removed from service like the worst criminals and criminal charges were filed against them. Other proceedings are still before the court and the prosecutor's office,” the Sloga Police Union said in today's statement.