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Author: Tijana Ilić

  • Terrorism charges filed over March 15 incident, sonic boom testimony database now available

    Terrorism charges filed over March 15 incident, sonic boom testimony database now available

    Belgrade, April 9, 2025.

    Civil society organizations – Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Civic Initiatives, Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights – YUCOM, Initiative A 11, FemPlatz and Crta submitted a criminal complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime against unknown persons on suspicion of having committed a criminal act of terrorism on March 15, 2025, when they used an unidentified dangerous tool that interrupted a peaceful protest in Belgrade during the observance of 15 minutes of silence.

    At today’s media conference, the organizations pointed out the activities they have undertaken before domestic and international institutions, with the aim of protecting the human rights of Serbian citizens, including addressing the United Nations, which resulted in the initiation of special procedures, as well as submitting a request for a temporary measure before the European Court of Human Rights.

    After the protest, 4,000 citizens turned to our organizations with testimonies about the consequences they experienced – from feelings of panic and fear, to physical injuries. More than 3,000 anonymized testimonies are now available to the public on the zvuk.labs.rs platform.

    The President of the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights – YUCOM, Katarina Golubović, pointed out at the press conference that on March 15 there was an attack on the life, body and freedom of a large number of citizens, which is why a criminal complaint was submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime today. She added that the organizations are in contact with the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, which is conducting its own preliminary investigation in connection with March 15.

    According to her, the mass response of citizens to civil society organizations clearly indicates the concern that someone tried to attack them and reflects the deep-rooted distrust of citizens in the institutions of the system.

    Since the deadline for the Republic of Serbia to submit comments to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the alleged use of sonic or other means during the protest on March 15 expired on April 8, we expect the Court’s notification within the day or tomorrow, Vladica Ilić from the Belgrade Center for Human Rights told those present at the conference.

    In accordance with the narrative used to address the public, the state in its response to the European Court of Human Rights denied the use and possession of any sonic or similar weapons, Ilić added.

    The zvuk.labs.rs platform contains testimonies about a sound attack during a peaceful gathering where citizens paid tribute to the victims of the falling canopy in Novi Sad. As explained by Đorđe Krivokapić from the SHARE Foundation, the testimonies are grouped according to the zones that cover the area from the Palace of Albania to Slavija. The database also contains data on analyzes of sound and other stimuli described by citizens, with a special focus on psychological effects – fear, anxiety, confusion, a feeling of numbness and other consequences that, for some citizens, last almost a month after the protest.

    Recall that sound experts from the non-profit organization EarShot analyzed four different recordings from the scene of the sound impact and preliminarily determined the noise produced by the Vortex Ring Gun or Vortex Cannon. It is important to emphasize that social psychology professor Clifford Stott from the British University of Keele, in his preliminary opinion, explained the behavior of people at the time of the incident as a sudden change in behavior that is not the result of a false alarm, but the presence of an “external force or stimulus that deserves additional investigation.”

  • Three freedoms under scrutiny: March 21 – April 3, 2025

    Belgrade, April 3, 2025

    Violation of basic human rights in Serbia
    March 21 – April 3, 2025

    Professors and teachers who support the student blockades are under great pressure from the authorities and suffer numerous negative consequences for expressing their opinion publicly. Their February salaries were drastically reduced, but the pressure does not end there. Now state officials and pro-government media are openly calling for the arrest of the Belgrade rector and are targeting faculty and school professors on a daily basis. In the midst of a tabloid and official targeting campaign, the dean from Niš was physically attacked. A female police officer attacked her with a knife, and the fact that high-ranking government officials, starting with the president of the country, tried to relativize this violent act towards the dean, whom the president himself, just a few days before the attack, called a “criminal”.

    At the same time, attacks continue on students and citizens who protest, as well as journalists who report objectively. Students in Čačak were attacked by a group of about 20 people, and students in Novi Sad were beaten with belts by a group of 10 men.

    In recent weeks, there has been an increase in the number of students and citizens who have been detained or invited to informational interviews. The first criminal complaint was also filed against a group of students from one faculty in the blockade.

    For more information about these and other cases recorded in the previous period, see the full report below:

    CASES OF VIOLATIONS OF FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA MARCH 21 – APRIL 3, 2025 Download
  • Maja Stojanović and Zoran Stojiljković: Government repression as a reflection of powerlessness

    Maja Stojanović and Zoran Stojiljković: Government repression as a reflection of powerlessness

    Source: nova.rs

    First, the state sent the police to several non-governmental organizations to investigate the misuse of taxpayers’ money of another country. Then she took away the salaries of the educators who have been on strike for months, and then also the university professors. Police officers and judges were threatened with dismissal if they did not protect state order and the law. Will repressive measures continue? Why is the regime becoming more and more repressive towards the rebellious citizens? Is it because of fear or power? These are some of the questions for the guests of journalist Marko Novičić in the TV Nova TV Nova show – retired professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences Zoran Stojiljković and executive director of Civic Initiatives Maja Stojanović.

    Stojanović was among the first to be attacked by the authorities. Members of the police broke into the premises of Citizen Initiatives and demanded documentation, and she reveals what has happened in that case since then.

    Stojiljković admits what he considers to be the main motive for the government’s repressive moves. In the beginning, the government intimidated and threatened the educators, and in the end it attacked their existence, by de facto taking away their salaries, the retired professor adds, which is why the repressive measures are being intensified.

    The executive director of Civic Initiatives comments on whether the government shows that it has no control over the situation with all the repressive measures it takes, or whether it wants to show the power of the repressive apparatus it owns. The professor analyzes whether in this situation the authorities have only repression left and how far they can go with it.

    The guests of “Pokreni se” also comment on whether the government’s repression can be returned by even greater dissatisfaction of the citizens, because we see precisely that the employees in the judicial branch of the government were quite quiet until the moment when President Vučić threatened that they would be replaced.

    On the other hand, we see that, for example, a part of educational workers are returning to schools precisely because they were left without salaries, and Stojiljković admits that it can be argued that to some extent repressive moves are leading to what is the goal of the government.

    The salaries of university professors were also taken away, the government even changed the regulation that determined how many hours professors spend on scientific work and how many hours on teaching, and the guest of the morning program gives his opinion on that move.

    The rector of Belgrade University Vladan Đokić is being targeted more and more often, the resigned minister Darko Glišić said that he should be arrested, and the guests of TV Nova comment on why he is such a thorn in the side of the authorities and add whether they expect that the threats could come true.

    Recently, we have often heard that Serbia is moving towards a model regime similar to the one in Russia and Belarus, Stojanović and Stojiljković admit whether they agree with that assessment.

    Recently, the film “Time of Terror” produced by the Center for Social Stability was broadcast on TV Prva, in which the participants of the protests in Serbia were warned that the French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre also died from the guillotine, “that is, the sword he drew himself.” Kurir, a regime tabloid, published a few days ago an unsigned text that ends with the sentences “Beware of harassing citizens. It could happen that citizens react differently to one of the next bridge blockades than before. That those who trusted Jovo Bakić swim in the river.”

    The guests of “Move” admit how they understand these messages and add whether the propaganda authorities went this step further and why.

    The Center for Social Stability has also made propaganda videos targeting the journalists of N1 and Nova, and these videos have been playing for days on television with a national frequency. Šolak is a constant target of President Vučić. In the end, Stojanović and Stojiljković give their verdict, which is why in this situation an additional chase was launched against journalists who are doing their job.

    Watch the entire show in the video attachment.

  • Maja Stojanović: For the first time, Serbia will have to officially answer about sonic weapons – that is a turning point

    Maja Stojanović: For the first time, Serbia will have to officially answer about sonic weapons – that is a turning point

    The European Court of Human Rights requested that the Serbian authorities answer questions about the possible use of sonic weapons at the March 15 protest, and this was requested from the court on behalf of the citizens by civil society organizations, including Civic Initiatives. Executive director Maja Stojanović states for N1 that it is “a turning point, because for the first time Serbia will have to answer an official question.”

    “He will have to directly say whether a sound cannon was used, what is the legal framework for its use – and we know from all the debates that it does not exist, that they acquired some sound cannons without a legal framework, as well as what are the protective mechanisms so that they are not used arbitrarily, according to someone’s decision. Those are three very important questions,” she said.

    She added that the organizations asked to determine whether Serbia has a sound cannon, as well as the most basic temporary measure to ban its use.

    Speaking about President Aleksandar Vučić’s statement from Brussels, in which he stated that the sound cannon was not used, and that they are ready to prove it, Maja Stojanović states that this has become rhetoric recently.

    “This proof that something did not happen has become rhetoric in the last few months. It is impossible to prove that something did not happen, they can investigate what actually happened. The reaction of the Prosecutor’s Office, that is, the statement that they determined that it did not happen – there is no evidence that something did not happen,” she added.

    She also stated that she was not satisfied with the reaction of Brussels. “I would like the EU to deal much more with value issues than with bureaucratic accession procedures. And the fact that there is no joint conference is a message,” she stated.

    “The message not to call N1 in the middle of Brussels is a clear message from the authorities that will be easily recognized in Brussels. It’s not the same when you don’t call N1 in Brussels and when you don’t call in Belgrade to some local conference,” she pointed out.

  • The European Court of Human Rights asks the Republic of Serbia to declare itself regarding the alleged use of sonic weapons

    The European Court of Human Rights asks the Republic of Serbia to declare itself regarding the alleged use of sonic weapons

    March 25, 2025.

    Last night, the European Court of Human Rights asked the Republic of Serbia to answer questions about the possible use of sonic weapons at the protest in Belgrade on March 15, 2025. Our country has been given a deadline of March 31 this year to declare whether illegal means were used against the demonstrators, what is the legal basis for the alleged use of such weapons, and what are the protection measures against the arbitrary use of such means. The deadline for submitting the answer of the State of Serbia is next Monday, March 31, 2025.

    Civil society organizations: Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Crta, FemPlatz, Civic Initiatives, Initiative for Economic and Social Rights A11 and Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights – YUCOM appealed to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of 47 citizens of Serbia, and on the occasion of the event that interrupted the 15-minute delivery of mail to the victims of the tragedy at the Novi Sad train station.

    In the submission sent to the Court in Strasbourg for the imposition of temporary measures, civil society organizations pointed to the fact that the 15-minute silence for the victims of the fall of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad was violently interrupted by the use of a still unknown and dangerous sonic or other similar means that caused bodily harm, great anxiety, panic and stampede of the gathered, as well as that over 4,000 citizens of Serbia contacted our organizations who testified about what happened, who reported a series of health problems, physical injuries, physical and psychological problems and/or symptoms.

    We remind you that the highest officials and representatives of the institutions of the Republic of Serbia denied that the state possesses any type of sonic weapon, and then, under public pressure, they showed that there are at least 16 LARD[1] devices of various strengths within the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia. Please note that the use of such weapons in Serbia is illegal and that, accordingly, the procurement of such weapons was not carried out in accordance with the applicable regulations.

    The European Court of Human Rights also asked the citizens who addressed the Court to provide concrete information by March 31, 2025, especially regarding the health condition and health consequences suffered by citizens of Serbia who were exposed to the effect of sonic or similar means during a peaceful protest rally in Belgrade on March 15, 2025.

    Our organizations will continue to help citizens in establishing the truth about the event of March 15, protecting their rights and interests in proceedings before international and domestic bodies.

    [1] Eng. Long-range Acoustic Device

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