Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) official Ana Brnabić has accused the student-backed “Students’ List” of pursuing what she called “revolutionary terror,” claiming that the movement is preparing a campaign to have President Aleksandar Vučić arrested over the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad.
In a post on the social media platform X, Brnabić said the accusations against Vučić had emerged less than 72 hours after the Students’ List won the parliamentary elections held on October 25.
She alleged that the movement had promised “revolutionary terror” during its campaign and argued that its actions were now demonstrating what she described as that approach.
Brnabić also accused the student-backed movement of preventing Vučić from speaking during the election campaign and spreading false claims about him and his family during the official campaign silence period.
She criticized suggestions that the president could be questioned by prosecutors over the Novi Sad disaster, describing the reasoning behind such a move as “the stupidest possible.”
“Imagine, the president of a country was informed about the implementation of one of the largest projects in that country, and that is sufficient grounds for him to be questioned and suspected in connection with the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad,” Brnabić wrote.
She further argued that members of the project’s Review Commission had not been questioned, despite their alleged role in reviewing the project and approving it without requesting additional checks. Brnabić claimed that some of those individuals were now part of the Students’ List.
To support her argument, she compared the case with the 2004 collapse of part of the roof at a newly opened terminal at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, which killed four people and injured many others. She said it would have been unthinkable for French prosecutors to question then-President Jacques Chirac as the main suspect.
Brnabić maintained that the aim of the proceedings against Vučić was to silence and remove him from power rather than establish justice.
“I will fight without fear for a free Serbia, against revolutionary terror,” she wrote.
Novi Sad disaster remains under scrutiny
The canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people and triggering mass student-led protests that later gave rise to the Students’ List.
Brnabić’s statement followed a report by Forbes Serbia in which sources argued that Vučić should be questioned as part of investigations into the disaster and possible corruption linked to the modernization of the railway line connecting Serbia and Hungary.
According to Forbes Serbia, published documents, media investigations and findings by an inquiry commission suggest that Vučić had knowledge of the project and that members of his cabinet had been informed about its implementation. The report said these circumstances could provide grounds for prosecutors to invite him for questioning.
Such calls do not establish criminal responsibility, and any decision on questioning or potential charges rests with the competent judicial authorities.
The Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office and the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad did not respond to Forbes Serbia’s questions about whether they planned to question Vučić, according to the report.
