The restoration of absolute control has become the ruling authorities’ ultimate objective. Through cynical procedural maneuvers, the regime is attempting to subjugate a rebellious university system and reshape the prosecution service in a way that allows full political control over current and future investigations involving senior officials.
The past year was marked by the largest protests in recent history, raising public expectations that meaningful change was possible. However, the beginning of this year has been defined by a wave of retaliation, as the authorities seek to consolidate power through unchecked repression. What is unfolding is a systematic purge of institutions and individuals who refuse unconditional loyalty or still believe that justice could reach the highest levels of government.
Security structures have already been largely “cleansed” through partisan dismissals within the police and intelligence services. The regime is now completing its final structural adjustments, strengthening what can only be described as an architecture of force. In parallel, universities and the prosecution service have become primary targets, as the authorities calculate that mass resistance has weakened since last autumn.
The first major blow was dealt to the State University of Novi Pazar, where departments were shut down, professors dismissed, leadership replaced, and students forced to abandon an institution pushed toward collapse. The political significance of Novi Pazar was crucial, as the city had symbolically undermined the regime’s strategy of ruling through division and ethnic hostility during the protests.
This was followed by management changes at medical faculties and the dismissal of renowned experts, including Dr. Vladimir Dugalić, a leading liver surgeon, and cardiologist Vladimir Zdravković, a professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Kragujevac.
The removal of Professor Jelena Kleut from the University of Novi Sad represents both personal retaliation and institutional intimidation—punishing her support for students while sending a broader warning that academic promotion procedures can be weaponized as disciplinary tools. Her dismissal now stands as a sword hanging over all professors who dare to defend academic freedom and university autonomy.
The number of victims of repression can no longer be counted. What once targeted individuals now engulfs entire institutions. Yet, every repressive system survives on weakened resistance, raising the pressing question of whether Serbian society has grown exhausted, resigned to violence as an unavoidable fate.
The attack on universities continues through manipulative legal tactics. The Minister of Education ordered a repeat vote for the election of the Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Maja Kovačević, effectively signaling her removal. Pro-government student representatives may once again be mobilized to exert political control over faculty governance. There is little doubt that Dean Kovačević has been targeted for her open support of the student movement, at a time when the erosion of university autonomy is accelerating.
Attention has now shifted to the prosecution service, with the clear aim of halting investigations involving those in power and disciplining prosecutors who operate according to law rather than party directives. Reasserting control is the regime’s overriding imperative.
The strategy is brutally transparent:
– Weaken prosecutorial independence through amendments to systemic laws
– Expand state control over social media
– Manipulate the composition of the High Prosecutorial Council through repeat voting
After failing to directly subordinate the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office (TOK) to political leadership, authorities have found a more insidious method—terminating the mandates of half its prosecutors, effectively freezing investigations into the most sensitive cases, including Jovanjica, Šarić, and Sky communications. A restructured and compliant council could then appoint politically loyal prosecutors, ensuring protection for the ruling elite.
Repression has multiplied its victims, but its survival depends on the weakness of resistance. The central question remains unanswered: Has Serbian society grown too tired to fight, or is this merely a pause before renewed defiance?
