MEP addresses Novi Sad tragedy, protests, digital surveillance in Serbia

He informed fellow MEPs about these events, describing them as “absolutely unacceptable and illegal.”

“We demand an immediate halt to digital spying and a criminal investigation of those responsible in the (Serbian) Internal Affairs Ministry and Security Intelligence Agency (BIA),” Prebilic said, expressing his condolences to the victims’ families and to the Serbian people.

He attempted to address the MEPs in Serbian, but was not permitted to do so. EP President Roberta Metsola interrupted him, noting that his speech in Serbian could not be translated, prompting him to switch to English.

MEP Zeljana Zovko from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) also objected, saying that the use of Serbian in the European Parliament is a provocation. She emphasized that Serbian is not an official EU language and therefore cannot be used at plenary sessions.

Prebilic told the assembly that a tragic incident occurred on November 1, at 11:52 am, when a concrete canopy roof at Novi Sad’s train station collapsed, despite the station having undergone reconstruction and being ceremonially reopened in July.

He stressed that fifteen innocent lives were lost, and two others were seriously injured, which led to mass protests throughout Serbia. He explained that students, professors, citizens, and journalists have united in demanding justice and accountability. Prebilic noted that mass arrests of demonstrators followed, and referenced Amnesty International reports alleging that Serbian authorities use PEGASUS and other spyware to conduct mass surveillance of activists and journalists.

“This is absolutely unacceptable and illegal. We demand an immediate halt to digital spying and a criminal investigation of those responsible in the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Security Intelligence Agency,” Prebilic concluded, extending his condolences to the victims’ families and the Serbian people.