MEPs urge EU intervention over crackdown on Serbian activists and protesters

A letter initiated by Greens MEP Vladimir Prebilic and signed by more than 30 MEPs from five political groups, criticised a campaign of intimidation following the student-led protest in Belgrade on 15 March 2025.

It recalled that hundreds of people made statements alleging that the Serbian authorities used an acoustic device against peaceful demonstrators. Instead of launching an independent investigation, they claim that the Serbian authorities and President Aleksandar Vucic launched a counter-campaign, accusing protesters of fabricating the reports of a sonic weapon.

The MEPs said subsequent police action and legal proceedings against activists, journalists and students were “a coordinated campaign of intimidation” rather than a legitimate judicial process. They warned that the use of fear and legal pressure against civil society was incompatible with Serbia’s EU integration path.

The letter called European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos and EU Ambassador to Serbia Andreas von Beckerath to publicly condemn the harassment, urge the Serbian authorities to drop the charges against peaceful demonstrators, and make clear that intimidation of civil society cannot be accepted as part of the country’s European future.