Research: 317 attacks on human rights defenders recorded in Serbia in 2025

The report found that police were responsible for the largest share of attacks on activists, about 32 percent, while media outlets accounted for 21 percent.

Physical attacks made up 51 percent of the incidents, while 31 percent were electronic attacks.

According to the report, most attacks happened outside Belgrade (67 percent), with 33 percent recorded in the capital. Compared with 2024, the number of attacks on activists rose by 151 percent; that year, the report recorded 126 incidents.

Speakers at the press conference said the research does not include attacks on journalists, noting that a separate study tracks those cases “because there were many of them.”

Milan Filipovic, research director at YUCOM, said the report found that many individuals who presented themselves as police officers were in fact not police but government supporters.

“Police failed to respond to attacks, and everything culminated with the use of a sonic weapon on March 15. State institutions have not properly investigated the case. There is a lack of accountability for all these attacks, and the president of Serbia himself justified people who drove their cars into citizens during protests,” Filipovic said.

He also said that new spyware had been developed, and that more than 600 activists have found such software on their phones. According to him, more than 1,000 people may have had spyware installed on their devices illegally.

BCBP Director Ivan Bandovic said that people who were wiretapped are “victims of the authorities, as are their families.”

“When institutions fail to fight corruption, the only ones left doing that work are journalists and activists. Stronger oversight of the authorities is needed, and domestic institutions should address this issue. The exception is the case of March 15 last year and the sonic weapon—because a weapon was used, that becomes a matter for the Council of Europe,” Bandovic said.

United Nations Resident Coordinator in Serbia Matilde Mordt said that human rights defenders ask uncomfortable questions, but that this is essential for a democratic society.

She added that activists, journalists, and students have taken on the responsibility of defending human rights, and that they deserve recognition for doing so and for calling on institutions to do their job.

Participants at the conference agreed that Serbia is among the few countries where the focus on civil society is relatively weak.