Belgrade Center for Human Rights: 1,636 people arrested for political activism last year
31. mar. 2026. 12:58
Link to original article: https://n1info.rs/vesti/beogradski-centar-za-ljudska-prava-prosle-godine-uhapseno-1636-ljudi-zbog-politickog-aktivizma/
The Belgrade Center for Human Rights announced today that last year, during a time of increased civic activism, 1,636 citizens were arrested and prosecuted.
“Direct opposition from citizens who have never been more ready and determined to protect their rights, and on the other hand, increasingly repressive moves by the executive branch, marked the year 2025 in terms of the state of human rights in Serbia, when 1,636 people were arrested and prosecuted in the period from June to September,” the Center’s report assessed today.
Sanja Radivojević, a member of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, stated that according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) and the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), 1,636 people were arrested and prosecuted from June to September last year, of which 1,372 were prosecuted in misdemeanor proceedings and 264 in criminal proceedings.
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“Every time civic activism increases, the police department acts in a way that processes as many people as possible, not because there is a justified reason for such action, but rather it is a repressive measure, a message to citizens about what they may be exposed to in the event of any civil disobedience,” she said at the presentation of the report at the “Miljenko Dereta” space in Belgrade.
She stated that 779 people were detained, and that 307 of them remained in detention for up to 48 hours, and that criminal charges were filed against them for the criminal offenses of violent behavior, obstruction of an official in the performance of duty, and assault on an official.
“The information that the Ministry of Interior did not provide us, but which we obtained from the media, is that a large number of reports have been filed for the criminal offense of endangering and undermining the constitutional order. This criminal offense has emerged as current and very frequent in the last year, and in criminal law practice it has rarely happened that anyone has been charged with it,” said Radivojević.
The report’s editor, Dušan Pokuševski, said that the report recorded two “most dangerous trends” – legal uncertainty and impunity for human rights violations.
“The citizen as an individual feels unprotected in this society and the only protection he sees to fight for his rights is to resort, together with other citizens, to what is guaranteed to him by the Constitution and international regulations, which is through freedom of assembly,” he stated.
He added that last year there was a high level of repression against those who wanted to express their opinions, and that the state’s obligation not to restrict the right to freedom of assembly and to protect all participants in public gatherings was lacking.
The director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Sonja Tošković, said that the report focused mostly on civil protests and the exercise of the rights to freedom of assembly, expression and freedom of association.
“If we look at the report as a mirror of society, what we can see in 2025 is deeply concerning, we can see the great pressures that existed in relation to citizens, the academic community, civil society, journalists, and the international community also spoke about this in 2025,” Tošković stated.