"Kushner proposed redeveloping the site of the Yugoslav army's former General Staff building and replacing it with luxury apartments, a hotel and a casino. Serbia's government had backed the project and offered him a 99-year lease. The building, which was the military and defense headquarters of Yugoslavia, was badly damaged by NATO airstrikes during the Kosovo war in 1999. The General Staff building is a monument to Yugoslav modernist architecture; many in Serbia also consider it a symbolic memorial in Belgrade's administrative center."
""Because meaningful projects should unite rather than divide, and out of respect for the people of Serbia and the City of Belgrade, we are withdrawing our application and stepping aside at this time," a spokesman for Kushner's company Affinity Partners said on Monday (15.12.2025). That same day, Serbia's public prosecutor's office for organized crime filed an indictment against the minister of culture, Nikola Selakovic, and three other officials. They are accused of unlawfully removing the cultural heritage status of the General Staff building."
President Aleksandar Vucic announced he will personally file criminal charges against those he accuses of 'economic sabotage of Serbia.' Jared Kushner canceled a planned investment in Belgrade to redevelop the former Yugoslav General Staff site into apartments, a hotel and a casino after public protests and corruption suspicions. Serbia's government had supported the project and offered a 99-year lease. The General Staff building, damaged in NATO airstrikes during the 1999 Kosovo war, is regarded as a modernist architectural monument and symbolic memorial. Affinity Partners withdrew its application and the public prosecutor indicted culture minister Nikola Selakovic and three officials for removing the building's cultural heritage status. Vucic reacted angrily.
Read at www.dw.com
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