Public shocked by video of arrested young men kneeling before a wall

The footage, which is being widely shared on the social media platform X, appears to have been filmed in some kind of gym where the detained men and police officers are located.

The video has drawn a flood of comments from users expressing disbelief that such a scene could take place in Serbia, with many asking, “Is this Guantanamo?” Others compared the scene to “how ISIS used to detain Christians.”

“The criminal offense of ill treatment and torture carries a sentence of up to one year in prison. If severe pain or suffering is inflicted upon another person through force, threats, or other unlawful means to obtain a confession, statement, or other information, or to intimidate, unlawfully punish, or discriminate against them or a third party, the prescribed sentence is up to five years in prison. If these acts are committed by an official in the line of duty, the punishment is up to three years, or up to ten years, respectively,” Democratic Party (DS) leader Srdjan Milivojevic commented in a post on X.

Lawyer Rodoljub Sabic publicly questioned the police director, asking “what ‘measure’” the police officers were applying and on what provision of the Law on Police it was based.

Former soccer player Mirko Poledica tagged European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos on X, asking if the “EU is still worried about what is happening in Serbia.”

N1 has sent inquiries to the Novi Sad Police Department, asking for the identities of the arrested young men, the charges against them, and the location of the gym.

Miran Pogacar from the Bravo movement wrote that the location is a gym inside a police station in Novi Sad.

Pro-regime tabloids reported that the individuals in the video are protesters who were arrested for participating in the riots of the previous nights.