The opposition party Serbia Center (SRCE) strongly criticized a statement by police director Dragan Vasiljević, who described the police actions at the University of Belgrade Rectorate as “routine investigative procedures.” SRCE called this characterization “an insult to the intelligence of every citizen.”
In a statement, the party described the police operation not as a legitimate investigation, but as a “punitive expedition” targeting those who refuse to remain silent about the “criminal structures at the head of Serbia.”
According to SRCE, Director Vasiljević defended the operation before the public, claiming that the police were “acting only on the order of the Prosecutor’s Office” and that criminal inspectors were “conducting interviews to establish facts.”
SRCE condemned the police’s approach as cynical and violent, stating: “The cynicism with which the police director speaks of ‘legal procedures,’ while his subordinates beat citizens, exposes the true nature of this government, for which human life is worthless and only serves as a pretext for repression. Evidence regarding the tragedy at the Faculty of Philosophy is not collected while masked officers assault citizens.”
The party described the police intervention outside the Rectorate as “brutal and completely unprovoked violence against citizens and students,” calling it a reflection of a regime “that has lost its footing following last Sunday’s local elections.”
SRCE posed pointed questions to Director Vasiljević, asking whether the use of batons against women and citizens is part of the Prosecutor’s mandate, and whether evidence of the tragic student death is being gathered by attacking colleagues and citizens. The party condemned the operation as “the most shameful politicization of a human tragedy, resembling the actions of a military junta rather than a state in the process of joining the EU.”
