On March 14, the day before what has been described as the largest protest ever organized in Serbia, six activists were arrested on suspicion of planning to overthrow Serbia’s constitutional order. A recording of a private conversation among a group of 12 Novi Sad activists was broadcast on national television, after which six of them were detained.
The remaining six activists who took part in that conversation were abroad at the time and remain in exile under threats of similar repression. A decision is currently pending regarding the lifting of house arrest for Davor Stefanović, Mladen Cvijetić, and Srđan Đurić from PSG.
While in pretrial detention, one PSG activist was beaten and had his nose broken, while Marija Vasić, a teacher at the Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Gymnasium in Novi Sad and PSG member, went on a hunger and thirst strike in protest of the extension of her detention.
Alleged Coup Plot
The recording of the conversation between the activists was aired on national TV and in tabloids as part of “special” programs portraying the student-led “15 for 15” protest as a plan for a “coup.” It is true that, in the conversation, activists discussed various potential violent scenarios that could occur during the protest.
Radivoje Jovović, president of the Novi Sad PSG chapter and member of the provincial assembly, told Mašina: “Their conversation certainly contains no elements of planning a coup. In the end, it wasn’t a plan at all – plans, whatever they are, are made at a higher level. This was a brainstorming session, throwing out ideas – the kind that happen in half the cafes in Serbia – which our people were fully aware of.”
“They released it simultaneously on several national TV channels and called it a terrorist plan to overthrow the state. A crisis team of tabloid journalists gathered to build a narrative through which they would accuse all of us of undermining the constitutional order,” a STAV statement read.
Novi Sad police justified the arrests by claiming the activists had committed the criminal offense of preparing acts against Serbia’s constitutional order and security, related to the offense of inciting violent change of the constitutional order.
Critics argue that this latest incident of repression further demonstrates a pattern of the government’s abuse of criminal proceedings to intimidate citizens into passivity.
A.M.; D.S.
