Tonino Picula, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, has voiced serious concerns over the country’s democratic standards, warning that Serbia’s detention of political prisoners is incompatible with its EU ambitions.
“The fact that a candidate country can have political prisoners is undoubtedly troubling for a state that claims to seek EU integration,” Picula stated in an interview with Deutsche Welle, following a meeting in Brussels with ultramarathon students from Serbia.
His remarks come in response to the ongoing detention of six activists and students, who have now spent 60 days in pretrial custody on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. An additional six members of the same civic movement, STAV, remain in exile after similar charges were filed against them.
According to defense lawyers, the main piece of evidence is an audio recording of a wiretapped conversation obtained by Serbia’s Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA). This recording was broadcast on pro-government television on March 14, with arrests occurring shortly after.
Lawyers argue that the surveillance was illegal and that the audio material should not be admissible in court.
This incident has raised alarm in European circles and may severely undermine Serbia’s relations with the EU, especially at a time when Belgrade is under pressure to prove its commitment to European values and democratic reforms.
“You cannot hold political prisoners and at the same time claim to walk the European path,” Picula concluded, reinforcing growing skepticism in Brussels about Serbia’s sincerity in its EU bid.
