Novak Nedić

Novak Nedić (Новак Недић; born 1982) is a Serbian politician, lawyer and sports administrator serving as the secretary-general of the Government of Serbia since 1 May 2014. A member of the populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), Nedić has been accused of having ties with organized crime groups.

Early life, education and law career
Nedić was born in 1982 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia. He graduated from the Sixth Belgrade Gymnasium and the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade. From 2000 to 2005, he worked as a volunteer intern at the Commercial Court in Belgrade and then as an intern and later a lawyer at the Nedić Law Firm. He deals with commercial and criminal law and holds a Certificate of Special Knowledge on the Rights of the Child and the Criminal Law Protection of Juveniles.

Political career
Nedić is a high-ranking member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). On 28 November 2012, he was appointed deputy secretary-general of the Government of Serbia and the cabinet of Ivica Dačić. He was appointed secretary-general of the Government of Serbia and the first cabinet of Aleksandar Vučić on 1 May 2014. Since then, he has been serving as the secretary-general and also held this position during the second cabinet of Aleksandar Vučić and the first, second and third cabinet of Ana Brnabić.

He is a member of the main and executive board of SNS, and the president of the legal affairs council of SNS's Belgrade branch.

Sports administrator
Nedić is also known for his involvement with FK Partizan, where he served as a member of the board of directors until 2014, when he resigned. His father, Vojislav Nedić, a prominent lawyer and also a member of the SNS, was the vice-president of the club until 2016. The Nedić family has been considered as éminence grise of the club for a long time. During Nedić's time in Partizan, a new group of Grobari fans who used to support other clubs took over the southern stand and called themselves Janjičari. According to Vladimir Vuletić, this group was led by Nenad Vučković, also known as Vučko, a high-ranking officer of the gendarmery.

Alleged ties with organized crime groups
Nedić has been accused of having connections with organized crime groups in Serbia and the region. He has been named by several sources as a protector and associate of members of the criminal clan led by Janjičari leader Veljko Belivuk, also known as Velja Nevolja, who was arrested in February 2021 on charges of murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking and other crimes. According to the testimonies of some of Belivuk's associates, who are also in custody, Nedić intervened on their behalf after they attacked and demolished a nightclub in Belgrade in 2018. He allegedly used his influence to prevent any legal consequences for the perpetrators. Nedić has also been mentioned in official police reports and notes as a person who had contacts with Belivuk and his associates.

Furthermore, Nedić has been accused of participating in shooting practice with members of Belivuk's clan at a military shooting range in 2016. According to the Military Trade Union of Serbia, Nedić was accompanied by Nenad Vučković and Aleksandar Stanković, also known as Sale Mutavi, another notorious crime figure who was killed in 2016. The evidence from the shooting range later disappeared without trace.

At a press conference in March 2021, President Aleksandar Vučić avoided answering the question about Nedić's involvement with Belivuk's clan. Vučić dismissed the question as irrelevant and accused Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), which wrote about Nedić's involvement with organized crime, of being "biased" and "working for foreign interests".

During the 2023 Serbian protests, Nedić was seen with a group of men who were allegedly sent to break up the protests of farmers who blocked the traffic in Pančevo, where SNS held a rally on the same day. Marinika Tepić, the vice-president of the Party of Freedom and Justice accused Nedić of "leading SNS hooligans" to a rally in Pančevo. Not long after, a video showing Nedić leading a group of men through the streets of Pančevo was revealed by N1.

Alleged sexual harassment
In February 2014, Nedić, then a deputy secretary-general, was accused of sexually harassing by a female official of the Commission for Securities, who claimed that he pressured her to have a relationship with him and threatened her and her family. She reported the case to her superiors and colleagues via email, but did not file a criminal complaint. Nedić denied the allegations and said that someone wanted to harm him. The case was not investigated by the government or any other authority. Nedić was later promoted to the position of secretary-general of the government. In May 2014, Nedić was attacked and beaten up by a group of men in a Belgrade bar for allegedly sexually harassing their friend.