Source: Deutsche Welle
Two students in Novi Pazar are suspected of preparing the murder of state officials. The criminal charges are based on a secretly recorded conversation. The NGO says: this is a continuation of the authorities’ showdown with political opponents.
Students of the State University of Novi Pazar, Hamza Ziljkić and Nikola Marjanović, were arrested on March 22 on suspicion of preparing the assassination of state officials, i.e. acts against the constitutional order and security of Serbia. That day, their apartments were searched and their computers and mobile phones were confiscated. That same evening, they were ordered to be detained for 48 hours, although, as their lawyer Maida Toković told DW, they were not presented with a criminal complaint beforehand.
On Tuesday, the Basic Court in Novi Pazar ordered them to be detained for 30 days, which their lawyers appealed, and the court yesterday (March 27) rejected the appeal due to, as Toković said, the possibility of influencing, changing or destroying evidence. “That is absurd, considering that the evidence (seized items) is at the National Crime and Technical Center,” Toković said.
Alma Mustajbašić, a researcher at the Public Policy Program of the Belgrade-based NGO Civic Initiatives, told DW that the case of Ziljkić and Marjanović is “a continuation of the practice of abusing the law and security organs in order to deal with political dissenters.”
“Captured institutions have become a means of dealing with political opponents of the ruling party. Since the beginning of the student protests, and previously, during the environmental protests against lithium mining, we have been noticing an increase in the number of citizens arrested and detained,” Mustajbašić says.
He adds that these citizens are charged with various offenses.
“From disturbing public order and peace, to allegedly violent behavior at public gatherings and obstructing the work of officials, to serious criminal offenses such as calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order and preparing acts against the constitutional order,” says Mustajbašić.
She reminds us that the goal of “authoritarian regimes is to have frightened citizens who withdraw and self-censor and who do not raise their voices against corruption and crime.”
“Preventing Ziljkić’s and Marjanović’s lawyers from gaining access to the case files is a direct obstruction of justice and a gross violation of the law,” emphasizes Alma Mustajbašić.
“Political processes”
In December 2024, civic initiatives launched the “Shield” mechanism, which aims to provide assistance to people who have been detained or arrested during protests, or who are facing legal proceedings. Over a period of one year, more than 1,000 arrests have been recorded.
“Among them are 36 arrested and detained on suspicion of criminal acts of calling for a violent change in the constitutional order and preparing acts against the constitutional order. Students, opposition politicians, activists, war veterans and one lawyer were arrested. They were detained for posts on social networks, and after illegally intercepted conversations that were first broadcast on pro-regime television stations,” recalls the researcher from Civic Initiatives.
Among them are 12 activists from Novi Sad, also accused of attempting to violently change the constitutional order, whose trial began in November last year.
This trend has continued, and according to data from Civic Initiatives, since the beginning of this year, 50 people have been detained in the context of civic protests, and five have been arrested on suspicion of preparing acts against the constitutional order.
“The way people are arrested, the illegal wiretapping and the lack of evidence that the suspects actually committed the acts they are suspected of, indicate that these are political processes and political persecution,” Alma Mustajbašić concluded for DW.
Read the full text at: https://www.danas.rs/svet/dojce-vele-pritvor-novopazarski-studenti/