A series of arrests marked the first two weeks following the elections in Serbia.
The arrests are being carried out on suspicion of corruption, violence against students, electoral manipulation and abuse of official position.
Even before the Student List, the winner of the October 25 elections, has taken power, previously unresolved cases have begun to be reopened and new investigations launched.
Among those arrested are around 20 police officers, including several senior police officials.
Some of them are suspected of mistreating students following protests held just over a year ago.
“Finally, I can sleep peacefully,” Nikolina Sinđelić, a student at the Faculty of Political Sciences, told Radio Free Europe.
She had accused senior police official Marko Kričak of threatening to rape her and of police brutality following an anti-government protest.
Kričak and nine other current and former members of the Unit for the Security of Certain Persons and Facilities (JZO) have been placed in pre-trial detention for up to 30 days.
In Serbia’s parliamentary elections on October 25, Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party suffered a defeat, bringing an end to its 14-year rule, which had been characterised by authoritarianism.
The Student List, which emerged from two years of anti-government protests, won 140 seats in Serbia’s Parliament, while Vučić’s list secured 103.
Among the Student List’s main demands were fighting crime and corruption and ensuring that institutions function in accordance with their responsibilities.
Why Were Some Cases Left in the Drawers?
While street celebrations were still underway, Serbia began reopening previous cases and launching new investigations.
Two days after the elections, the Public Prosecutor’s Office established a five-member commission to review the work of all 87 public prosecutor’s offices in Serbia.
In coordination with this commission, several important proceedings were initiated, including investigations into police brutality against students following the August 2025 protests.
This was confirmed to Radio Free Europe by senior public prosecutor Goran Ilić, who heads the commission.
According to him, the investigations are being conducted by the relevant prosecution offices.
Asked why these cases had not been investigated earlier, Ilić said there had been obstacles at every level of the justice system.
“There were considerable obstructions from the police, but also from the prosecutors themselves, who kept certain cases in drawers, even though, as we can now see, they could have been pursued. There were also obstructions from the courts,” Ilić said.
“This is what I have established from the cases we have managed to review so far,” he added.
In recent years, civil society organisations have repeatedly warned that public prosecutor’s offices in Serbia have undermined citizens’ rights by failing to exercise their powers or abusing them.
Speaking about the commission’s work, Ilić said a more favourable climate had now been created within the prosecution system for pursuing criminal offences.
“There are no longer any obstacles to prosecuting people who have committed criminal offences, regardless of the positions they hold or whether they were close to the previous government,” he said.
“Our aim is for this approach to continue even after the new government takes office. We hope we will succeed,” Ilić added.
The Case of Students Mistreated in the Serbian Government Garage
The arrested police officers are suspected of abusing and torturing several people in the garage of the Serbian Government building on August 14, 2025, following an anti-government protest.
According to the allegations, they used violence and threats, inflicting severe pain and suffering on students and other citizens.
The suspected aim was to extract information from them, intimidate them and punish them unlawfully.
Among the nine suspects is Igor Žmirić, commander of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit, who at the time of the incident was deputy commander of the Unit for the Security of Certain Persons and Facilities (JZO).
The main suspect, Marko Kričak, the former head of the JZO and current head of the Criminal Police, had previously been sent to pre-trial detention in connection with another case.
He and the head of the Service for Combating Crime, Boško Sekulović, were remanded in custody following a criminal complaint filed by former Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milić concerning their actions in the investigation into a murder at a restaurant in Belgrade.
“After everything that has happened in the country over the past two years, and even longer, it seems almost unbelievable that they have been arrested,” student Nikolina Sinđelić said.
On August 14, 2025, physics student Dušan Cvetković was also taken to the Serbian Government garage. He says police officers beat him both on the street and inside the garage.
“The current arrests are proof that the system can function, even though power has not yet changed hands,” he told Radio Free Europe.
“All it took was for the Serbian Progressive Party to lose the elections for them to no longer feel under pressure and to start dealing with these cases, so that at least some justice could be served,” the student said.
The First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade told Radio Free Europe that, during its investigation into the case, it had encountered obstruction from the Internal Control Sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other institutions.
According to the prosecution, the General Secretariat of the Serbian Government and the Directorate for Joint Services of State Authorities had failed to hand over security camera footage from the garage.
On October 1, 2025, the prosecution was informed that the recordings could not be provided because they were automatically deleted after 30 days.
“Given that we requested the footage on the sixth day after the incident, it is clear that the responsible authorities deliberately waited for the retention period to expire and only then responded to us,” the prosecution said.
The prosecution stated that only after several requests and follow-up notices did the Internal Control Sector submit a report on July 23, 2026, containing statements from the police officers who had been reported.
However, according to the prosecution, the report did not clarify who had ordered the police unit’s intervention or whether the officers had submitted a report on their use of force following the operation.
The prosecution also said it had obtained statements from ten injured individuals, which it had documented in the form of official records.
Who Else Has Been Arrested?
Eight Criminal Police officers were also arrested after two years on suspicion of abusing and torturing Dalibor Dragijević, who died on April 7, 2024, while in police custody in Bor, eastern Serbia.
At the time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Dragijević had died at police premises and that the doctor responsible for determining the cause of death had concluded that it was due to natural causes.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Niš had previously issued orders to arrest people suspected of involvement in Dragijević’s death, but the Internal Control Sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had failed to carry them out.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to Radio Free Europe’s question about why it had failed to act in the case until now.
Dalibor Dragijević had been arrested on suspicion of helping his brother, Dejan Dragijević, move the body of two-year-old Danka Ilić. Dejan Dragijević and Srđan Janković have been charged with the girl’s murder.
The missing girl’s body has never been found, and the case has yet to reach a judicial conclusion.
The director of the Zabela prison has also been arrested on suspicion of giving and receiving bribes in connection with voting.
The director of the Hydrometeorological Institute of Serbia has also been remanded in custody.
He is suspected of transferring and converting assets worth at least €650,000, together with two other people, while knowing that the assets originated from criminal activities.
Among those remanded in custody for up to 30 days is Davor Macura, owner of Alta Bank.
Macura, who has close ties to the outgoing government, is accused of withdrawing more than €380 million from the bank’s treasury.
Alta Bank’s operating licence has been revoked and bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against it shortly afterwards.
The provincial secretary for social policy has also been remanded in custody on suspicion of abuse of official position. The head of the Novi Sad City Administration for Economy is also being held, suspected of negligence in the performance of official duties.
Executive Power Without the Means to Apply Pressure
Katarina Golubović, president of the non-governmental organisation Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM), told Radio Free Europe that the wave of arrests was the result of people within institutions becoming convinced that the students’ demands needed to be addressed urgently.
However, she said the arrests were also linked to efforts by individuals within certain structures to align themselves with those calling on institutions to act against violations of the law.
One day after the elections, representatives of the Student List called on Serbia’s Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac to ensure that prosecutors acted urgently, impartially and in accordance with the law in cases of public interest.
They also demanded the resignation of Nenad Stefanović, head of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, and his deputy, Miodrag Marković, accusing them of undermining public trust in the prosecution service through selective handling of cases.
The Student List also called for measures to establish whether prosecution officials, particularly Stefanović and Marković, should face criminal liability for their actions or failures to act.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, headed by Stefanović, did not respond to Radio Free Europe’s questions concerning criticism that it had avoided handling certain cases because of political pressure.
According to Serbia’s Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac, political and institutional obstacles that had previously hindered the work of public prosecutor’s offices have been removed following the elections.
She made this position known after a meeting with Dutch Public Prosecutor Sue Preiner on November 5.
Golubović of YUCOM said the previous government had exerted pressure on certain prosecutors, preventing them from investigating particular cases.
According to her, following its election defeat, the outgoing government no longer has the same ability to influence their work.
“Although the new government has not yet been formed, the demands are clear. Criminal complaints and evidence have already been submitted in many cases, and these are now being examined,” Golubović said.
She believes that the responsibility of prosecutors who previously failed to act should also be investigated, including the possibility of initiating disciplinary proceedings against them.
The office of Public Prosecutor Dolovac did not respond to Radio Free Europe’s question about why the commission reviewing the work of prosecutor’s offices was established only after the elections.
Dolovac herself had also faced criticism for remaining silent and failing to act in certain cases. However, more recently, she too had come under criticism and pressure from the outgoing government.
Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL)
