General Hospital Sremska Mitrovica, 2025–2026
Smoking in a hospital is not a crime. Reporting it, apparently, is.
Translated from the Serbian version of 26 September 2026. The Serbian text is authoritative: Pušenje u bolnici nije krivično delo. Prijava pušenja, izgleda, jeste.
Closed: The criminal route is closed: the objection was rejected on 25 August 2026, with no right to appeal or object.
Next step: a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court, in preparation.
In 2025 a citizen repeatedly reported staff smoking inside the general hospital in Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia. The hospital filed a criminal complaint against him for impersonating an official, which the prosecutor rejected for lack of grounds. His own complaint for false reporting was also rejected, and on 25 August 2026 the higher prosecutor rejected his objection.
In brief
In February 2025, Živko Gvozdenović, the author of this site, reported smoking in the Department of General Surgery I and Paediatric Surgery of the General Hospital Sremska Mitrovica (Opšta bolnica Sremska Mitrovica) to the inspectorate. The hospital management received the same report; when it asked him to add the date and time, he sent them, with a photograph of the room with ashtrays. The hospital thanked him for the report and said that a procedure to establish the staff's responsibility was under way. The staff denied it; in the hospital's assessment there was no other evidence, and the procedure ended with a notice reminding staff of their duty to follow the rules.
During 2025, inspectors visited the hospital six times: the provincial sanitary inspectorate three times, the labour inspectorate twice and the health inspectorate of the Ministry of Health once. Only the first inspection, on 24 February 2025, found a violation: an ashtray with a cigarette butt in the dining room of the Department of General Surgery III, and an employee's statement. The penalty: a misdemeanour ticket of 5,000 dinars for one employee. The other five inspections ended without a finding of any violation; the health inspectorate told the hospital to step up enforcement of the smoking ban.
In July 2025 the dispute changed direction. After his visit to the emergency admissions department on 15 July, the hospital filed a criminal complaint against Gvozdenović for false representation, claiming that he had presented himself as an official. The Basic Public Prosecutor's Office dismissed it because there were no grounds for suspicion. His own complaint against the hospital's acting director for false reporting was also dismissed, and on 25 August 2026 the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office rejected his objection, with no right to appeal or object.
What next: the criminal route is closed, and the next step is a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court, in preparation. On 21 September 2026 the hospital, the provincial sanitary inspectorate and both prosecutor's offices received letters with questions. The answers are published in full.
Key documents
Each document has a permanent number and its own page, in Serbian, with the scan and the file's SHA-256 hash. The titles and lines below are an unofficial translation.
- D3Record of an extraordinary inspection, no. 000576181 2025(page in Serbian)
The only one of six inspections in 2025 that found a violation: an ashtray with a cigarette butt in the dining room of General Surgery III and an employee's statement. A 5,000-dinar misdemeanour ticket was issued to the employee.
- D13Record of an extraordinary inspection, no. 003191813 2025(page in Serbian)
No finding on smoking. The record notes the hospital's version of the events of 15 July 2025 and the management's decision to engage a lawyer to take legal action against the complainant.
- D14Criminal complaint by the General Hospital Sremska Mitrovica against the author(page in Serbian)
Complaint for the criminal offence of false representation (impersonating an official) under Article 329(1) of the Criminal Code.
- D16Decision dismissing the criminal complaint, KT-421/25(page in Serbian)
The hospital's complaint was dismissed because there were no grounds for suspicion. The decision summarises the statements of the author and of two employees and describes the video surveillance footage.
- D22Decision dismissing the criminal complaint, KT-687/25(page in Serbian)
The author's complaint was dismissed on the grounds that the person reported had acted in the belief that the author had impersonated an official. The copy the author received contains no instructions on legal remedies.
- D23Objection to the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office against decision KT-687/25(page in Serbian)
Objection under Article 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Rejected as unfounded by decision KTPO-90/26 of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office of 25 August 2026 (D28).
Full documentation (in Serbian)
The complete case, with every claim labelled as document, my testimony ormy conclusion, the chronology, all documents and the log of corrections, is on the Serbian case page. Paragraphs there have permanent numbers (¶ 1.14 is the fourteenth paragraph of part one); please cite those. A browser's translate function gives a rough reading; the Serbian wording is what counts.