We call on the Ministry of Internal Affairs and all competent institutions to immediately stop the use of force against citizens protesting on the streets of Belgrade.
Recent events have shown a worrying willingness of the police to use tear gas, pepper spray, physical force, stopping ambulances and arbitrary arrests against protesters exercising their constitutional rights. Bullying behavior towards students, citizens and journalists is unacceptable and must be punished.
It is particularly worrying that the police violence was directed at the protesters in order to protect a counter-rally that the authorities themselves had scheduled at the same time, in the same area. Such behavior further compromises the institutional neutrality of the police and demonstrates the instrumentalization of state resources for political purposes. The police must not be a tool of the ruling party to break up protests by citizens who think differently.
Freedom of assembly, expressing dissatisfaction with corruption and demanding the accountability of the authorities are not a threat, but the basis of democracy. The police are not there to protect the government, but the citizens. Any form of excessive use of force is a serious violation of human rights and an indicator of the absence of the rule of law.
We also call on international actors to closely monitor the situation and make it clear that police brutality against their own people is unacceptable. Violence must not and cannot be a response to the students’ call for elections, which was offered only a few months ago by Aleksandar Vučić himself.
Violation of fundamental human rights in Serbia June 13 – June 26, 2025
While the president of the country declares that “the blockaders have wanted a truncheon for a long time,” the police and unknown assailants are taking it seriously. In Novi Sad, the police violently broke up the blockade of the City Assembly, injuring two people, including a student. Unknown, masked men attacked a student in Novi Sad, and a group of masked men tried to storm the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade and steal the famous banner.
Politically motivated arrests continue. As in the case of activists and opposition politicians from Novi Sad, two days before the Vidovdan protest, a wiretapped conversation of a group, mostly former military personnel, was published. Parallel to the publication of the wiretapped conversation in the pro-regime media, 6 people were arrested again under the same suspicion of allegedly preparing the act of overthrowing the constitutional order. Political persecution of dissidents is underway in Serbia, and we are entering a phase where the existence of political prisoners is becoming a regular occurrence.
Attacks and threats against journalists continued, and the safety of those working in the public interest locally was particularly threatened. Two lawsuits with SLAPP characteristics were also recorded during the period under review. One lawsuit was filed by the company Millennium Team, known for numerous lawsuits against the media, against the artist, writer and activist Dejan Atanacković.
For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below:
Citizens’ Associations – Narrowing the Space for Action 2024 is the sixth report published by Civic Initiatives, which assesses the state of the space for action and work of citizens’ associations. The analysis was conducted with the aim of systematically describing the space for action of civil society in Serbia in the previous year through practical examples. The report points to key problems in the areas of fundamental rights and freedoms, primarily the rights to freedom of association, expression and assembly, as well as issues of civil sector involvement in the policy and decision-making process and cooperation with government authorities.
In the previous year, 2024, there was an intensification of the use of repressive mechanisms by the authorities against citizens with the aim of suppressing fundamental freedoms. The negative trend of increasing attacks, both physical and verbal, was accompanied by some new forms of pressure to which activists and citizens are exposed. Mass, arbitrary arrests, detentions for informational interviews, interrogations solely for posts on social networks, wiretapping of activists and journalists, expulsion of foreign citizens from the country, along with a constant targeting campaign and political abuse of institutions for the purpose of dealing with dissenters, reached unprecedented proportions in the previous year, and their application continued in the current 2025. During the previous year, a total of 234 cases of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms were registered, of which 110 related to freedom of expression, 54 to freedom of association and 70 to freedom of assembly. In terms of the type of attack, out of 248 individual cases, 63 were physical attacks, 62 verbal attacks and 123 cases of pressure. The figures indicate an increase in the threat to fundamental rights and freedoms compared to 2023, and the data collected so far in 2025 indicate that the situation is even worse than before.
Yet, despite all the pressures and attempts to stifle authentic civic reaction and the right to protest and free expression, it seems that the organization and action of citizens and activists has never been stronger and more united. This is due to last year’s environmental protests, and then the student protests against corruption, which once again brought citizens to the streets across the country. A new wave of organizing and fighting for the rule of law continues to run parallel to the government’s attempts to disable and stifle citizens’ democratic right to act.
You can download the full report at the following link:
More proposers and candidates for members of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) stepped forward today from the election process, citing numerous irregularities and violations of the Law on Electronic Media.
With yesterday’s submission of six film associations and the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia, as well as their four candidates, the total number of those who have withdrawn from the process so far has risen to 78 authorized proposers and 16 candidates. In as many as seven out of a total of nine categories, proposers and candidates came forward, which clearly shows that this process has lost all legitimacy.
In today’s letter addressed to the National Assembly, the signatories state that the Committee for Culture and Information has officially decided not to accept any of the 30 objections submitted by legitimate proponents, which indicated a gross violation and misinterpretation of basic legal provisions. According to their statements, the Board itself found irregularities in several nominators and candidates in official documents, but decided to ignore them and keep everyone on the list, including those who did not submit the amendments that the Board previously requested.
The Board’s decisions according to which printed media are equated with electronic media if they have a website, that persons aged 15 to 18 are not children, and that everything qualifies as child protection, such as, for example, practicing old crafts or basketball training, are considered a misinterpretation of the law. They add that the Board refused to seek and wait for authentic interpretations of these terms before establishing the final list.
They also state that their demands for compliance with the law are presented as pressure on institutions and an obstacle in Serbia’s European integration. “If the European path is only possible for the country by violating its own laws – we cannot and will not be complicit in such a process,” it states.
“REM exists for the sake of protecting civil rights – freedom of expression, protecting children, preventing hate speech and ensuring media pluralism. Its purpose is not to fulfill political goals, international promises or simulate reforms within the framework of European integration”, the signatories point out.
Today begins a series of meetings of proponents from nine groupings that have nominated candidates for REM, with the aim of the proponents voting to select two candidates from each grouping. However, the proponents and candidates who withdrew from the process today warn that the vote will inevitably lead to the election of illegal candidates by numerous proponents who do not have the right to vote, and thus to the illegal composition of the REM Council.
We remind you that the violation of the Law on Electronic Media also occurred during the previous election process for members of the REM Council. The current process is conducted with even more pronounced procedural irregularities and gross violations of the law, while we still do not have the reaction of the Prosecutor’s Office to the submitted reports and the determination of responsibility for the violation of the law during the previous procedure.
You can read the letter that was submitted to the National Assembly today with the signatures of the proponents and candidates who withdrew from the further process HERE.
The elections in Zaječar and Kosjerić took place in an atmosphere far from the democratic ideal, Milica Marković and Marko Živković, who went there from Niš as observers of CRTE and Civic Initiatives, assessed in the show “15+15 minutes”. They bear witness to the intimidation of voters and the abuse of public resources, but they believe that the citizens, students and the opposition organized themselves well and that no more elections in Serbia for the SNS will be a “zicer”.
Watch the entire show in the video attachment:
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