Belgrade, May 29, 2025
Violation of basic human rights in Serbia
May 1 – May 15, 2025
In the past two weeks, several physical, violent incidents were recorded in which the initiators and perpetrators of the violence were officials or sympathizers of the ruling party.
The N1 cameraman was attacked at a meeting of SNS in the vicinity of Kosjerić. He was attacked by an SNS official who later found himself in the company of party president Miloš Vučević. A SNS sympathizer attacked a journalist from Južni Vesti at a gathering of the ruling party in Niš. An activist of the same party also knocked the phone out of the hand of Glas Šumadija journalist. Supporters of SNS pelted the citizens of Kula with stones and pyrotechnic devices for hours and on that occasion slightly injured several people. The president of the municipality of Vlasotince attacked the activist of the “Battle for Vlasina” Association.
The amount of violence in society is unfortunately not surprising. The normalization of violence and even the glorification of abusers and the presentation of batterers as heroes comes from the highest representatives of the government. The president of the country also announced that he would pardon four men who left the SNS premises in Novi Sad, and who chased students in that city and on that occasion broke the jaw of one female student.
Pardoning violent people is an invitation and encouragement to continue repression against citizens.
For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below: