Update
Election day observation report – local elections 2026
Introductory note CRTA deployed 10 limited-capacity observation missions, applying a methodology gro...
On 25 December 2024, a 23-year-old student and activist - identified by BIRN under the pseudonym Vedran - entered the Sava Center in Belgrade out of curiosity during a Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) rally. Within fifteen minutes, a group of plainclothes men surrounded him and took him to the Savski Venac police station, where he was held for six hours. His phone was confiscated upon arrival and taken to a separate room, as reported by BIRN.
Forensic analysis conducted by Amnesty International in January 2025 showed that at 8:01 PM - while Vedran was being interrogated in another room - operatives switched on his phone, spent the next two hours extracting data using Cellebrite forensic equipment, attempted to install an unidentified Android application, and then tried to cover their tracks. At no point did Vedran give consent, and no court order authorized any of these actions. His phone was returned to him shortly before 1 AM, switched off.
During the interrogation, four plainclothes men who never identified themselves questioned Vedran about activist groups Sviće, about other activists including Nikola Ristić and Ivan Bjelić, and about his contacts and funding. He repeatedly asked whether he had done anything illegal, whether he was under arrest, and whether he could leave. The answers were no, no, and no. He was denied access to a lawyer throughout. The interrogation later shifted to pressure and threats: operatives claimed a foreign woman he had photographed with on Instagram was a spy, threatened him with prosecution for espionage and attacking the constitutional order, and offered him money, covered expenses, and a job at the Ministry of Finance in exchange for becoming an informant.
Near midnight, operatives presented Vedran with a blank sheet of paper containing a single sentence asking him to agree to secretly assist state organs. After an hour of psychological pressure - including the four operatives swearing on his Bible - a handwritten version was produced asking him to help identify the foreign woman and report on her while she remained in Serbia. Vedran signed, believing the document had no legal force and wanting only to leave. He does not intend to cooperate.
While Vedran was held, activists outside searched for him and his parents reported him missing to police. The MUP rejected the missing persons report, redirecting his parents between Belgrade and his hometown five times without accepting the filing. His phone signal had been off since he entered the police station.
Cellebrite, whose equipment was used in this case as in earlier documented cases, has since revoked licenses to some clients in Serbia after an internal investigation confirmed misuse - though the company has not disclosed which clients were affected.
Forensic analysis conducted by Amnesty International in January 2025 showed that at 8:01 PM - while Vedran was being interrogated in another room - operatives switched on his phone, spent the next two hours extracting data using Cellebrite forensic equipment, attempted to install an unidentified Android application, and then tried to cover their tracks. At no point did Vedran give consent, and no court order authorized any of these actions. His phone was returned to him shortly before 1 AM, switched off.
During the interrogation, four plainclothes men who never identified themselves questioned Vedran about activist groups Sviće, about other activists including Nikola Ristić and Ivan Bjelić, and about his contacts and funding. He repeatedly asked whether he had done anything illegal, whether he was under arrest, and whether he could leave. The answers were no, no, and no. He was denied access to a lawyer throughout. The interrogation later shifted to pressure and threats: operatives claimed a foreign woman he had photographed with on Instagram was a spy, threatened him with prosecution for espionage and attacking the constitutional order, and offered him money, covered expenses, and a job at the Ministry of Finance in exchange for becoming an informant.
Near midnight, operatives presented Vedran with a blank sheet of paper containing a single sentence asking him to agree to secretly assist state organs. After an hour of psychological pressure - including the four operatives swearing on his Bible - a handwritten version was produced asking him to help identify the foreign woman and report on her while she remained in Serbia. Vedran signed, believing the document had no legal force and wanting only to leave. He does not intend to cooperate.
While Vedran was held, activists outside searched for him and his parents reported him missing to police. The MUP rejected the missing persons report, redirecting his parents between Belgrade and his hometown five times without accepting the filing. His phone signal had been off since he entered the police station.
Cellebrite, whose equipment was used in this case as in earlier documented cases, has since revoked licenses to some clients in Serbia after an internal investigation confirmed misuse - though the company has not disclosed which clients were affected.
