Belgrade, August 7, 2025
Violation of basic human rights in Serbia
July 25 – August 7, 2025
A serious incident happened in Novi Pazar when a group of violent, masked men broke into the State University in Novi Pazar in the early hours of the morning and started beating and throwing the students outside. The police who came in front of the faculty did not protect the attacked students, and after the reaction of the citizens, they started arresting the gathered people.
The police silently observed the attack by SNS supporters on the citizens of Kraljevo and Novi Belgrade. Members of the peace and security services did not protect the journalist from an attack by SNS supporters in New Belgrade, and during the action to prevent the blockade of the highway near Lajkovac, a member of the gendarmerie personally attacked a media team.
In recent years, we have witnessed the intensification of the practice of arresting and detaining citizens and activists who protest peacefully or call for protests through social networks and express their dissatisfaction with the current government. Over 400 arrests and detentions have been recorded since the beginning of the student and civil protests. Due to the above, in the following period, we will add a special section to our report Three freedoms under scrutiny, in which we will report on the number of people arrested and detained at various protests throughout Serbia. The number of people arrested at student, environmental and other protests will be shown, as well as the number of those who were arrested or detained because of posts on social networks criticizing the current government. Our goal is to systematically collect data on the prevalence of this type of repression, as well as to document and inform the public about the violation of freedom of expression and assembly that is carried out in this way.
For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below: