The Serbian Court of Appeal of the city of Nis overturned the verdict of the first instance, by which the former head of the Main Department of Internal Security of SBU Andriy Naumov was convicted of money laundering. The case was returned for a new consideration for a new decision.
This information was confirmed by the press service of the court to the Balkan service of “Radio Liberty”.
On September 29, 2023, a court in Nis sentenced Naumov to one year in prison on charges of money laundering. He was released from custody at the beginning of December 2023 by the decision of the High Court in Nis. He is now awaiting the final verdict. He cannot leave the country (his passports were confiscated), and Serbia refused to extradite him to Ukraine.
History of Naumov
Andriy Naumov started working at SBU in 2019. Until July 2021, he held the position of head of the Department of Internal Security.
Naumov was involved in the assassination attempt, which, according to investigators, was being prepared for him by the former first deputy head of SBU Dmytro Neskoromny. This case became known in January 2021. An employee of the "Alfa" special unit Yurii Rasyuk was detained on suspicion of preparing the murder, he made a deal with the investigation and received a suspended sentence. Neskoromny, according to the case file, acted "out of motives of personal revenge". He is still wanted.
On the night of February 24, 2022, a few hours before the full-scale invasion of Russian troops, Naumov left Ukraine. After that, "Schemes" wrote that the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) had started criminal proceedings under the article "treason". However, this has not yet been officially announced.
On April 1, 2022, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stripped Naumov of the rank of general because he violated the military oath. On June 18, 2022, SBI stated that Naumov may be involved in the transfer of secret documentation about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to the special services of the Russian Federation.
Law enforcement sources told Babel that Naumov could receive asylum in Russia in exchange for participating in the "tribunal" against President Volodymyr Zelensky. Information about a possible temporary move to Russia was also confirmed by The Insider. In the end, this never happened.
In Ukraine, Naumov was informed of two suspicions — of misappropriation of property due to abuse of official position and of fraud, which caused losses to the state of more than 3.2 million hryvnias. He was not charged with treason.