Surveillance

Police in Novi Sad arrested six people on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of preparing acts against the constitutional order and security of Serbia, in connection with the offense of inciting the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. Among those arrested were activists from the opposition party Movement of Free Citizens and the activist group “Attitude”. Another six activists from Novi Sad were in Croatia at the time of the arrests, and warrants were later issued for them.

On 25 December 2024, a 23-year-old student was detained at the Sava Center during an SNS rally, held for six hours at the Savski Venac police station without access to a lawyer, and had his phone data extracted using Cellebrite forensic equipment without a court order. Forensic analysis by Amnesty International confirmed that operatives spent two hours extracting data while he was being interrogated in another room and attempted to install an unidentified application. During interrogation, plainclothes operatives questioned him about activist networks, threatened him with prosecution for espionage, and pressured him to sign an agreement to become an informant - including swearing on his Bible. His parents' missing persons report was rejected five times by police. Cellebrite subsequently revoked licenses to some Serbian clients after an internal investigation confirmed misuse of its equipment.

Serbia's Administration for the prevention of money laundering, operating under the Ministry of Finance, requested comprehensive financial checks on five civil society activists from all banks in Serbia, invoking the Law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing. The requests were signed by acting director Željko Radovanović, a former BIA member, and covered account balances, transaction records, authorized signatories, and safety deposit boxes. The move repeats a near-identical abuse from January 2019, when the Administration requested data on 57 individuals and organizations - including investigative journalists and NGOs - which subsequently appeared in pro-government tabloids as part of a smear campaign. All five activists described the action as politically motivated intimidation, coming as student protests continued to spread across the country.