03 Apr Three Freedoms Under the Magnifying Glass: March 21 – April 3, 2025

Posted at 10:44h in News, Three Freedoms Under the Magnifying Glass by

Belgrade, April 3, 2025

Violations of basic freedoms 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 pressures do 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 smear campaign, the dean from Niš was physically attacked. An older woman attacked the dean with a knife, and the fact that high government officials, starting with the president of the country, tried to relativize this violent act towards the dean, whom the president personally called a “criminal” just a few days before the attack, is equally terrible.

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 for informational interviews. The first criminal complaint was also filed against a group of students from one faculty in the blockade.

You can find more details about these cases in the full report below.