According to the latest report of the CIVICUS Monitor platform, in 2025, Serbia fell from the category of “obstructed” to the status of a state “under repression”, which implies serious restrictions on the freedom of expression, assembly and association
Serbia has “fallen” in the evaluation of civic space “from obstructed” to “under repression” – according to the latest report of the international research platform CIVICUS Monitor, which monitors the state of civil liberties in 198 countries and territories, Civic Initiatives announced today.
The “under repression” category, the second lowest possible, describes countries where freedoms of expression, assembly and association are severely restricted, and opposition to the authorities can lead to serious consequences, such as violence, prosecution or imprisonment.
Thus, in 2025, Serbia was among the 50 countries with that rating, along with Georgia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and El Salvador, it was stated in the announcement.
“The lowering of the rating for Serbia represents a turning point. The authorities are no longer just trying to suppress criticism, but are actively stifling the right to free expression, association and protest,” said Ine Van Severen, head of the research.
According to her, a state that claims to strive for democracy must not persecute citizens because they demand responsibility.
“In Serbia, a critical word brings retribution”
Uroš Jovanović from Civic Initiatives points out that Serbia has become a country where even a single critical word leads to retaliation.
“That retaliation can take the form of job loss in the public or publicly funded sector, targeted inspections by state authorities, smear campaigns in the media close to the ruling party, arbitrary arrests or various forms of administrative harassment,” he warns.
Student protests, which broke out after the deadly collapse of the train station in Novi Sad, which is attributed to corruption, have been going on since November 2024, and at the same time, basic freedoms are under strong attack due to the increasingly repressive moves of the government.
Demonstrators and those who support them face police violence, attacks by groups associated with the ruling party, mass arrests and intimidation campaigns, while the perpetrators of such attacks enjoy almost complete impunity, according to a CIVICUS Monitor statement.
Human rights organizations state that more than a thousand people have been detained since the beginning of the protests. Most were soon released, but some are still under house arrest or under restricted movement measures. Twelve civil society and opposition activists face criminal prosecution on disputed charges of allegedly subverting the constitutional order, while six of them are in exile.
In July, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić pardoned people accused of serious violence against protesters, including four men associated with his party who brutally beat a female student, as well as a woman accused of attempted murder after she drove her car into a crowd of protesters.
The authorities refused to seriously investigate allegations of police abuse, from excessive use of force at protests to beatings and threats of sexual violence reported by student Nikolina Sinđelić, the statement said, which also stated that they did not initiate effective investigations into the alleged use of sound weapons at the March 15 protest in Belgrade, nor into reports of the use of spyware against journalists and human rights defenders.
Camps of supporters of the government are places of frequent clashes with anti-regime demonstrators
The authorities further exacerbated tensions by organizing counter rallies and camps around key institutions in Belgrade.
Investigative journalists identified persons connected to organized crime among the participants. With the support of local authorities and police protection, these camps became places of frequent clashes with anti-regime demonstrators.
The report predicts that the proposed changes to the Criminal Code from September 2025 could lead to any traffic blockade becoming a criminal offense punishable by up to one year in prison, which, as civil society organizations warn, would in practice mean the criminalization of peaceful protest.
Freedom of expression is under constant attack, and those who publicly and vocally support the protests face smear campaigns, pressures and dismissals.
Politically motivated and legally questionable appointments to the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media have ensured that this institution remains under the full control of the ruling party, it added.
The organization CIVICUS calls on the authorities in Serbia to immediately stop the violence and politically motivated criminal prosecutions, withdraw the changes that would criminalize peaceful gatherings and launch independent investigations into abuses of police powers and illegal surveillance.
Source: FoNet, Vreme
