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Interpol has informed Serbian authorities that it will not issue international arrest warrants against six students and activists from the STAV group (Students Against Authoritarian Rule) and the Movement of Free Citizens (PSG), who have spent 16 months abroad in political exile. According to their defence, Interpol assessed the case as political in nature and, under its own rules, will not act on such a request as reported by Insajder. The decision reached the Higher Court in Novi Sad through a report by the Ministry of Interior's Sector for International Police Cooperation, which the presiding judge forwarded to defence counsel.
The six are part of a group of twelve Novi Sad students and activists charged with preparing acts against the constitutional order and security of Serbia, an accusation tied to the protest of 15 March 2025. Prosecutors allege that, in the run-up to that protest, the group planned a violent change of the constitutional order. The defence maintains that the case rests on an intercepted conversation it argues was obtained unlawfully. Against those abroad, the authorities have issued national warrants, ordered detention, annulled personal documents, and set a trial in absentia.
Interpol's constitution bars it from any intervention in matters of a predominantly political character, and defence lawyer Veljko Milić noted that the organisation routinely declines to act on offences it classifies as political in order to preserve its neutrality.
The development bears directly on commitments Serbia has made in the fundamentals of the accession process - an independent judiciary and prosecution, freedom of peaceful assembly, and protection of fundamental rights - which are measured against implementation and track record rather than against declared intentions. A politically neutral international police organisation has, in effect, declined to treat the case as ordinary crime. That outcome aligns with long-standing concerns that criminal and security instruments are being directed at participants in protests.
The six are part of a group of twelve Novi Sad students and activists charged with preparing acts against the constitutional order and security of Serbia, an accusation tied to the protest of 15 March 2025. Prosecutors allege that, in the run-up to that protest, the group planned a violent change of the constitutional order. The defence maintains that the case rests on an intercepted conversation it argues was obtained unlawfully. Against those abroad, the authorities have issued national warrants, ordered detention, annulled personal documents, and set a trial in absentia.
Interpol's constitution bars it from any intervention in matters of a predominantly political character, and defence lawyer Veljko Milić noted that the organisation routinely declines to act on offences it classifies as political in order to preserve its neutrality.
A politically neutral international police organisation has, in effect, declined to treat the case as ordinary crime.
Defence lawyer Željko Kočić said that the Interior Ministry first asked Interpol to act roughly sixteen months ago and that Interpol had refused throughout; the report now sets out the official reason he told N1 and Nova. He added that the defence will again request that the detention and the warrants be lifted so the six can return and attend their own trial. The activists, for their part, said the refusal is evidence that they are being persecuted for their political views.The development bears directly on commitments Serbia has made in the fundamentals of the accession process - an independent judiciary and prosecution, freedom of peaceful assembly, and protection of fundamental rights - which are measured against implementation and track record rather than against declared intentions. A politically neutral international police organisation has, in effect, declined to treat the case as ordinary crime. That outcome aligns with long-standing concerns that criminal and security instruments are being directed at participants in protests.
