Violation of basic human rights in Serbia July 17 – July 30, 2026
During the last reporting period, pressure on basic freedoms in Serbia continued through media targeting, threats, physical attacks and restrictions on public gatherings. Journalists, lawyers, activists, judges and prosecutors have been subjected to intimidation, online threats and attempts to discredit their work. At the same time, certain media were prohibited from following the gathering by arbitrary decisions of local officials, while institutional responses to reported attacks and threats remained inadequate.
For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below:
Violation of basic human rights in Serbia July 3 – July 16, 2026
During the last reporting period, pressure on basic freedoms in Serbia continued through coordinated media targeting, threats, physical attacks, restrictions on public gatherings, and abuse of legal and administrative mechanisms. Journalists, lawyers, activists, students, professors and government critics have been subjected to intimidation, online threats and attempts to discourage their public engagement. At the same time, several public events and civil initiatives were prevented by violence, arbitrary government interventions or selective enforcement of regulations, while institutional responses to the attacks remained inadequate.
For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below:
Violation of basic human rights in Serbia June 18 – July 2, 2026
During the last reporting period, the beginning of court proceedings was recorded as part of the pre-investigation procedure of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, regarding the allegations of the use of sound weapons during the protest on March 15, 2025. The Directorate of the Criminal Police conducted informative interviews with persons who spoke publicly about this case, including journalists. In the first six months of 2026, at least four journalists were relocated, while Marko Vidojković was again threatened with death via the social network Facebook. A student from Niš was detained for the fifteenth time, while a student from Belgrade was found guilty of obstructing a police officer on duty.
For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below:
Civil society organizations express deep concern about the direction in which the investigative actions on the incident of March 15, 2025, which have recently been undertaken by the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, are moving. The current action of this prosecution is the opposite of the thorough and impartial investigation that this drastic case requires, and indicates a conscious intention to cover up the actual incident, and to divert the public’s attention to the field of political persecution of the victims and all those who provided them with legal or other support.
We believe that the investigation into the event of March 15 should have been conducted from the very beginning by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, which withdrew from the case without providing any information or explanation. The case was then handed over to the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, which conducted the proceedings ineffectively. The last twist, in which the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office announces the taking over of the case and the investigation into the alleged planning and organization of the simulation of the use of a sound cannon, as a form of planning and execution of criminal acts against the constitutional order, represents an absurd replacement of theses. The prosecution substantiates these suspicions with a document drawn up by students at one of the plenums, although the content of that document clearly shows that the sound cannon was considered solely as a risk, i.e. as a threat that the police will use that tool against the participants of the student protests, and not as a tool that the students will use or whose use they will simulate at the protest.
The investigative actions of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office entered the extremely worrying phase of open pressure on freedom of expression and critical opinion. Yesterday’s search of the apartment and the arrest of military analyst Aleksandar Radić, along with the prosecution’s announcement that they will prosecute all those who allegedly planned, organized and provided media support for the creation of a “narrative about the alleged use of a sound cannon”, clearly shows the intention to intimidate all those who refused to remain silent in the face of obvious violence against citizens.
Contrary to fabricated accusations of simulations, we remind the public of the undeniable facts and scale of this incident. Several thousand citizens contacted our organizations reporting that they were victims of an unknown sound shock during the March 15, 2025 protest in Belgrade, as a result of which they suffered various health, somatic and psychological damages. Due to the seriousness of the situation and the risk of repetition, 47 citizens asked the European Court of Human Rights to issue a temporary measure, which the Court issued, asking the local authorities to prevent any use of sound devices for the purpose of controlling the gathered citizens at protests. At the invitation of the European Court, an official petition was also submitted, while the civil society organizations submitted all their findings in a timely manner to the competent domestic authorities with the aim of establishing all the facts and establishing responsibility for this event. At the beginning of April 2025, civil society organizations submitted a criminal complaint for terrorism to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and provided legal assistance to citizens in connection with giving statements before the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Since the President of the Republic expressed his readiness for any foreign service to investigate the event of March 15, we believe that it is of crucial importance that credible and neutral international mechanisms be included in this process. Therefore, we hereby demand that the state urgently submit a request to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Türk, for the appointment of an independent fact-finding mission about the incidents at the protest in Belgrade on March 15, 2025. We remind you that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has already publicly announced that proposal, to which the local authorities have not responded so far.
Given that the domestic judiciary succumbed to political pressure and turned the investigation into political persecution of the victims and those who supported them, the UN mission is the only remaining guarantor that can impartially establish the full truth about the sonic boom on thousands of Serbian citizens.
Signatory organizations:
A 11 – Initiative for economic and social rights
Autonomous Women’s Center
Belgrade Center for Security Policy
Belgrade Center for Human Rights
Center for judicial research – CEPRIS
Crta
FemPlatz
Građanske inicijative
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Youth Initiative for Human Rights
Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights – YUCOM
Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia – NUNS
Violation of basic human rights in Serbia June 5 – June 18, 2026
During the last reporting period, an increased number of cases of threats, targeting and interference with the work of journalists and the media was recorded. N1 television journalist Danica Vučenić received a letter with death threats addressed to her and her family members. Cases of hate speech and national targeting of journalists were recorded, in the case of journalist Dink Gruhonjić and journalist Getoarba Mulići. In addition to threats and targeting campaigns, cases of media restrictions have also been recorded. After the protest against the opening of the Israeli drone factory in Belgrade, several participants of the rally were detained.
For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below:
