Trial of Former Niš Mayor Dragana Sotirovski Delayed After She Misses Hearing for Health Reasons

The corruption trial of former Niš mayor Dragana Sotirovski failed to begin after she did not appear at the city’s High Court, reportedly because of health problems.

The preparatory hearing had been scheduled after the court rejected Sotirovski’s requests to remove judges in Niš and her proposal to move the trial to Belgrade or Kragujevac. She first appeared before the court on June 10, but that hearing was postponed after her lawyer, Miroslav Ristić, sought a change of territorial jurisdiction and the recusal of judges in both the Higher and Appeals courts in Niš.

The indictment accuses Sotirovski of causing 250 million dinars in damage to the city budget and obtaining about 112 million dinars in property-related benefit. She was arrested on Feb. 21 last year at the Preševo border crossing while returning from Greece, based on a State Audit Institution report alleging that she avoided tenders for construction works financed by the city.

A separate complaint filed in May last year alleges that she gave consulting companies, whose owners were arrested, 11.2 million dinars from the city budget for services that were never performed. Sotirovski exercised her right to remain silent during questioning. Her lawyer said she had prepared extensive material for her defense.

The Niš High Court extended her detention 11 times, citing the potential sentence of more than 10 years and the alleged scale of the financial benefit. Since late December 2025, she has remained under house arrest without electronic monitoring. The proceedings have not been resolved.