Civil Society Resilience

On 20 July 2026, the Ministry of Education announced an extraordinary inspection into the procedure for amending the University of Belgrade Statute, following media reports of alleged irregularities in a Council vote on changing how a candidate for rector is elected. The move raises the question of where lawful inspection oversight ends and constitutionally guaranteed university autonomy begins: while the inspection may oversee the work of the University's bodies, the adoption and amendment of the statute fall within the university's protected right to self-organisation.

Interpol notified Serbian authorities that it would not issue international arrest warrants against six of the twelve Novi Sad students and activists charged with preparing acts against the constitutional order, a group that has spent sixteen months abroad in political exile. The organisation, which does not act in matters of a political character, assessed the case as political in nature. The report reached the Higher Court in Novi Sad and the defence, which announced it would again seek to lift the detention and the warrants so the six could return and attend their own trial.

On 11 July 2026, writer Vladimir Arsenijević, programme director of the Krokodil festival, was attacked in central Belgrade at the site beneath Branko's Bridge where civil society organisations had planned to commemorate the anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. A group of 20 to 30 people insulted, threatened and physically assaulted him and defaced the space. That event, organised by the coalition "People remember people", was cancelled over security concerns, though other public commemorations in Belgrade and Novi Sad went ahead. Arsenijević, who suffered facial injuries, was examined at Belgrade's Emergency Centre.