Author: Tijana Ilić

The executive director of “Civil Initiatives”, Maja Stojanović, was a guest on CNN, where in an interview with Christian Amanpour, she talked about the student protests in Serbia, the current political situation and the role of civil society.

“This is the biggest protest ever. We are now witnessing people on the streets in more than 300-400 places in Serbia. This actually means that in every city, in every small village, in every municipality, people stand up to fight against corruption and for the rule of law.”

What is actually different compared to previous protests is that these protests are led by young people. We never had that in Serbia. “I think that in the whole world it is rare to see that young people from universities, high school students, even elementary school students actually go to the streets and demand responsibility from the authorities,” said Stojanović.

Speaking about the fall of the canopy at the train station in Novi Sad when 15 people lost their lives, Stojanović said that it was a “strong trigger”, but also reminded that the same train station was opened by the government a few months before the tragedy “as the biggest and most important and most beautiful train station”. “So basically, people automatically associated corruption and what happened during the renovation of the train station with the death of people. The main slogan of the protest, actually, from the beginning was corruption kills,” she said.

So it was completely different from the various protests that we’ve had because of rigged elections or environmental protests or any other protests. It was led by young people. They use a completely different methodology.

When asked what the current situation says about the government and whether Serbian President Vučić and the government are trying to suppress the protests, Stojanović said that for more than a decade we have had a “captured state”:

“We didn’t have separation of powers. It’s total control of the media, full control of the judiciary. So basically, right now we have a government that’s trying to stay in power, building on these undemocratic processes and undemocratic governance for years. So right now, we have a huge crackdown on civil society. We have a huge crackdown on protesters. We have a prosecutor’s office bringing charges against civil society just because Donald Trump and Elon Musk said that USAID is a corrupt and criminal organization. So basically, we’re facing, right now, with enormous pressure on citizens. We have had, as Citizens’ Initiatives, more than 2,000 cases of pressure on students, as well as arrests of young people. My family and I have been directly threatened by the president, so basically all national stations and public services maintain this message that we are the ones organizing the “Coloured Revolution”. But there is no logic in that, because the largest amount of money that USAID gave was actually given to the Government of Serbia, and civil society and non-governmental groups receive five to seven percent of that money.”

Donald Trump Jr. was in Serbia. His photos with President Vučić are everywhere. We know the Trumps and son-in-law Jared Kushner have businesses there. They want to build a big hotel in Belgrade. What do you think President Vučić gets from this association with the Trumps? How is he now using it to his advantage in Belgrade, in Serbia?

“Well, he uses everything he can. He used Erdogan’s way of governing, he used Orban, and now he is very happy that such a big and important country actually sends the same messages. So this is actually a message to the citizens of Serbia. When Trump’s son comes here, it is a message that family is important, that governments are run by family. So, it is an invitation and support for nepotism.

It is an invitation and support for corruption. And it’s very difficult. You can imagine how much harder it is for us to fight internally with these kinds of messages being sent from powers that used to be democratic. We still hope, I will say that, that there is a lot of potential in the USA to remain democratic. But at this moment what is coming is a message from the USA, people connected to the USA, not only Trump’s son, but also Giuliani was recently, and they are sending a message that is dangerous for democracy in Serbia but also for regional stability, and keep in mind that we are still a post-conflict region.”

Watch the entire interview in the video attachment:

It is with great sadness that we received the news that last night, after a long and serious illness, Nadežda Gaće, journalist, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly Novi magazin, as well as founder and member of the Assembly of Civic Initiatives, passed away.

We express our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones at this difficult time.

Nadežda Gaće was born in 1950 in Inđija. She finished classical high school in Split, and studied Yugoslav literature and Serbian language at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade.

She has been engaged in journalism since 1974, and began her working life at Radio Television Belgrade, where she progressed to editor and commentator.

After the famous Eighth Session of the CC SKS in 1987, Nadežda Gaće was suspended from the post of editor-commentator at RTB, after which she quit her job and continued her journalistic career at Jutel and Delo in Ljubljana.

After the shutdown of Jutel and the collapse of the SFRY, she worked in Borba, Naša Borba and Danas, and in 2011 she founded the publishing company Agenda 2020 and the weekly magazine Novi magazin and the portal of the same name.

In two mandates from 2006 to 2010, she was the president of the Nezavin Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS).

In addition to leaving an indelible mark on the media scene, Nadežda Gaće is the author of several notable books, as a tireless fighter for human rights, she is one of the founders of several reputable non-governmental organizations.

The time and place of the funeral will be announced later.

The civil society organizations Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Civic Initiatives, Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights – YUCOM, Initiative A11, FemPlatz and CRTA announce that by Monday, March 17, 2025, until 12 noon, they received more than 3,000 testimonies from citizens of Serbia regarding the events of March 15, 2025 in the center of Belgrade, in the area from Slavija Square to Terazij and in the surrounding streets, during 15 minutes of silence that started at 7 p.m.

Also, we announce that the representatives of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights spoke today with the members of the UKP of the MUP of Serbia, who informed us that they are acting on the request of the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, in case number KTR 3383/25. In the conversation with the members of the UKP, we pointed out that since Saturday evening, a large number of citizens have been contacting us continuously describing the event itself, reporting health problems and physical injuries, as well as that we have advised citizens to go to the doctor if they have any health problems or symptoms of damage, given that it is unknown what means were used and what consequences they may have on people’s health. Finally, in the conversation with the UKP, we also indicated that we believe that the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade should publicly invite citizens who want to contribute to establishing the truth about what happened and what means were used during the 15-minute silence to contact the prosecutor’s office and – if they wish – submit video recordings of the event, their testimonies and medical documentation documenting injuries – both from the stampede and from the effects of an unknown device or technology. The members of the UKP told us in the conversation that the competent prosecutor told them that they needed the testimonies of the victims for further action in this case.

Civil society organizations would like to thank the citizens of Serbia for their trust and willingness to share with us their experiences and testimonies about the event that suddenly interrupted the 15-minute silence for the victims of the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad and caused a great deal of anxiety. Please note that in the conversation with the police, in order to protect privacy and prevent leakage of information, no information of citizens was revealed or forwarded, bearing in mind that we were also contacted by those who wanted to remain anonymous or were willing to tell us what happened, but not to share their personal information. For the purposes of proceeding in this case, it is necessary that the competent prosecutor’s office without delay invites citizens to submit information important for establishing the facts of what exactly happened, guaranteeing their protection and confidentiality. As before in their work, civil society organizations will continue to respect, protect and defend human rights and will not betray the trust shown by the citizens of Serbia.