Judiciary

On 1 July 2026, the Basic Court in Pancevo found ETF student Andrej Tanko guilty of obstructing an official under the Law on Public Order and Peace, sentencing him to a suspended six-month prison term with a two-year probation period. The charge concerned an August 2025 protest during which Tanko allegedly sprayed a police officer with water. His defense called the process politically motivated and announced an appeal to the Higher Court in Pancevo. Tanko became a symbol of non-violent student resistance in December 2024.

The High Prosecutorial Council held an extraordinary session on June 19 and decided to return all prosecutors removed from the Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime under the Mrdić laws, fulfilling one of the Venice Commission's recommendations on judicial reform. Prosecutors Irena Bjeloš and Aleksandar Barac are among those returning; Boris Majlat was also seconded to TOK. At the same session, the HPC seconded several recently appointed, inexperienced prosecutors from basic to higher prosecution offices - a practice the upcoming law amendments will prohibit.

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade instructed the Criminal Police Directorate's Counter-Terrorism Service to identify and question all persons who publicly claimed a sound cannon was used at the March 15, 2025 protest, all participants of a January 22, 2025 student meeting, and doctors who organized medical examinations of protest participants. The order came as part of an investigation into potential incitement to violent overthrow of the constitutional order under Article 309 of the Criminal Code.