Students in Brussels: Call for international investigation into election irregularities

The meeting focused on requests for refusing to accept the legitimacy of Serbian elections at all levels and on initiating an international investigation into election irregularities.

“The meeting was effective and purposeful, European Parliament officials will demand an international investigation,” Stasa Cvetkovic said following the meeting with Matjaz Nemec MEP.

The group also met with Committee on Foreign Affairs member Klemen Groselj and with Andreas Schieder, the head of the Social Democratic Party of Austria delegation in the EP.

In talks with the officials, the students expressed concern over police brutality, detaining of students and misuse of the biometric data of the activists who peacefully protested against election irregularities. They stressed the need for an international investigation, while providing information on the political crisis in Serbia.

“The European officials emphasized that the first step for Serbia must be the establishment of democratic processes and institutions in order to ensure the next fair and honest election. It was surprising that the officials we met with were not familiar with how the students were detained or the crimes they were charged with,” said Milenkovic, adding that they were also surprised by the information on the use of biometric photos by tabloids.