SERBIA: Student Attackers’ Sentences & more – 17th June 2025

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 17th of June twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Monday the 16th, Belgrade’s Higher Court gave suspended jail sentences to three people convicted of attacking students in November of last year. Recall that the attack occurred while the students from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, or FDU, in Belgrade were holding a vigil for the victims of the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse tragedy.

The three defendants accused of the attack received suspended sentences (six months, eight months, and a year) following a plea deal with the prosecution. All of them confessed to attacking the students.

The attack in November involved two other people, but the Higher Prosecution Office dismissed their criminal charges.

After the attack in November, students from the FDU started what would later become a historical wave of faculty blockades. They began the campaign Everyone, Join the Blockade! as a response to the attack, demanding accountability for the collapse of the railway station, as well as the prosecution of those who had attacked them.

Nearly seven months after the start of faculty blockades, rector Djokic of the Belgrade University alongside Prime Minister Macut reached an agreement to create the prerequisites for the regular functioning of higher education institutions. On Tuesday, the 10th, Djokic agreed to organize all necessary activities so that the faculties could hold entrance exams, despite no progress in fulfilling the student demands. These activities would include exams, lectures, and laboratory practices, which would clash with the faculty blockades.

Djokic had been in support of the student protests since their start in early December, but has experienced immense scrutiny from the government, including getting arrested on a whim of president Vucic. However, he has recently begun talks with the prime minister to stabilize the situation in the country, caused by the protests and the lack of accountability from the state.

Since we mentioned arrests earlier, Kosovo authorities have demanded the release of Arbnor Spahiu, a member of the Kosovo police, detained in Serbia in connection with the September twenty twenty-three Banjska attack in Kosovo. The Serbian police arrested Spahiu two weeks ago while he was crossing the border from Hungary to Serbia, to visit Kosovo, as he lives in Germany.

His family said that the charges against him are unfounded and fabricated, as he completed his service in the Kosovo Police in twenty twenty-two, after which he moved to Germany, so he was not a member of the police at the time of the attack. On Wednesday the 11th, Kosovo’s interior minister ordered his immediate release, informing the EU and the US about his arrest.

Alongside Spahiu, Serbian police have arrested forty-two other people in relation to the Banjska attack, both from Serbia and Kosovo, charging them with terrorism. Recall that a group of Serbian men started the attack, killing a Kosovo police officer.

Speaking of attacks, Serbian officials condemned Israel’s recent attack on Iran. President Vucic expressed hope that the violent behavior on Israel’s side would soon end, noting that the conflicts in the Middle East could hike the price of oil. He also said that Israel’s attacks promote political volatility, economic instability, fear, and panic in the world.

On Thursday the 12th, one day before Israel attacked Iran, Serbia’s deputy parliament speaker Djerlek called for an immediate halt to arm exports to Israel. He said that Israel is carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza in the most brutal way, with the help of Serbian arms exports.

A day earlier, Serbian activist group Women in Black organized a rally in Belgrade, calling for an end to the genocide in Palestine. Additionally, they demanded that the government halt military aid to Israel. Djerlek said that his Justice and Reconciliation party is preparing a draft resolution to suspend the export of weapons and military equipment from Serbia to Israel.

On that note about military equipment, the National Assembly approved a loan agreement of more than 200 billion dinars, which is around two billion dollars, between Serbia and certain French institutions to fund the purchase of Rafale fighter jets from France. This loan marked the largest military investment in Serbian history, with the intention of overhauling and modernizing its air force and defense capabilities. Currently, the Serbian fleet uses the outdated Soviet-era aircraft. The delivery of the fighter jets is expected to begin in early twenty twenty-eight.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday the 11th, President Vucic had a private meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky. During the meeting, the two presidents discussed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Serbia’s path towards EU membership, as well as Serbian-Ukrainian bilateral cooperation. Zelensky thanked Vucic for Serbia’s financial and humanitarian aid, highlighting the initiative to fund the reconstruction of several Ukrainian towns and villages. Vucic reaffirmed Serbia’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

EU officials welcomed the meeting of the two leaders, labeling it a move in the right direction when it comes to Serbia’s position on the war in Ukraine, despite still being neutral on the matter. Recall that Serbia has received heavy criticism from the EU for fostering good relations with Russia whilst they attacked Ukraine.

Since we mentioned the EU, Lidington Research and the Institute for European Studies carried out a survey in May, questioning citizens on topics such as EU and NATO membership. The results showed that more than half of the respondents are against EU membership, while more than seventy percent also oppose joining NATO.

Political analysts commented on the results and noted that the survey conductors somewhat falsely presented the numbers, as they put together the votes of those who are strongly against and somewhat against EU membership. This lowered the number of votes that were not black or white. They stated that, while the support for Serbia joining the EU is declining among the citizens, it is mostly due to the EU's passive stance on the political unrest in Serbia.

On that note about the political unrest, Novi Sad’s EXIT festival of electronic music announced that this year’s edition will be the final one held in Serbia. Due to EXIT’s support for the student protests, it has been stripped of all government funding, despite its massive positive impact on the economy.

Founded in the year two thousand, it stemmed from a student movement against the then-authoritarian regime of Slobodan Milosevic, EXIT stood to represent unity and youth empowerment. Over the course of twenty-five years, it has had an enormously positive economic impact, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism revenue every year.

The organizers said that they were saddened by the oppression from the regime which allowed itself to halt all funding to one of the largest economic contributors of the country, prompting the festival to move elsewhere.

Speaking of the economy, on Thursday the 12th, the state’s statistics office published that the inflation decreased to 3.8 percent in May year-on-year. However, they noted that the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which have the biggest weight in the consumer basket, increased by almost six percent in May. Prices of housing, water, energy, and other fuels also jumped by around three percent. The central bank said that it expects inflation to slow down even more to three percent by the end of the year.

And to wrap up this edition, the central city of Kragujevac will host the annual Arsenal Fest from the 26th to the 28th of June The program will include various musicians and bands from different countries, such as Mass Attack, Bajaga, Joker Out, Buc Kesidi, and Bad Copy.

For more information, check out the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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