Serbia’s security apparatus is rotten from the inside. Igor Žmirić, commander of Serbia’s Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ), has been arrested over allegations connected to police brutality against students and citizens protesting against the regime. The very man entrusted with commanding one of Serbia’s most powerful police units is now under investigation for alleged abuses against the people he was supposed to protect.
Žmirić was arrested on Tuesday, alongside four current and former members of the Unit for the Protection of Persons and Facilities (JZO), following an operation by the Internal Control Sector of Serbia’s Ministry of Interior. The investigation concerns police operations in July and August 2025 near Belgrade’s Faculty of Law, where students were injured, detained and subjected to police force. Police officers even entered the faculty, raising serious questions about the violation of university autonomy.
But who exactly did Serbia put in charge of its anti-terrorist forces? Žmirić’s career includes service in the notorious Special Operations Unit (JSO), the Gendarmerie, the Counter-Terrorist Unit and JZO before he rose to command SAJ. This is the kind of security structure the Serbian regime has built: powerful units, questionable appointments and a chain of command that must now answer for alleged violence against its own citizens.
This is not just about five arrests. It is about an entire system that appears to believe it can beat, intimidate and silence students without consequences. Who ordered the operations? Who authorised the violence? Who protected the officers involved? And how did a commander facing allegations linked to the mistreatment of protesters end up leading an elite anti-terrorist unit?
Vučić’s Serbia cannot keep hiding behind slogans about security and public order while citizens are met with police brutality for demanding accountability. Arresting a few officers means nothing if the investigation stops before reaching the political and institutional leadership that enabled this culture of impunity.
You cannot run a country like a police barracks, treat students like enemies and then pretend to be a democracy. Serbia must investigate the entire chain of command, not sacrifice a few officers to protect the regime at the top.
