Serbia Turns on Its Own Police Over Garage Abuse of Protesters

Serbian authorities have reportedly detained police officers over alleged torture of protesters in a government garage in Belgrade, opening an investigation into violence the state had previously denied. ^[1][2][4]

The Interior Ministry announced the detentions on November 4, 2026, over alleged abuse on August 14-15, 2025. The protests were part of a student-led challenge to the government that followed a railway-station canopy collapse in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. ^[1][4]

Reuters, republished by The Guardian, and Al Jazeera reported that nine serving officers and one former officer were detained. Euronews gave a different total: eight serving officers and one former officer. ^[1][3][4]

The ministry said the suspects had served in an elite police unit and used force and threats against people held in the garage. It alleged that they inflicted "severe pain and suffering" to obtain information, intimidate people and punish them unlawfully. The statement described those held there as injured people. ^[1][4]

The arrests bring an allegation about police conduct inside a government compound into a state investigation more than a year after rights advocates published detainees' accounts. ^[1][2]

The allegation inside the compound

The ministry's account places the alleged abuse in a garage at the government compound. Its allegation goes beyond excessive force during a confrontation on the street: it describes deliberate violence against people already being held, with the stated purposes of extracting information, intimidation and punishment. ^[1][4]

The ministry released only the officers' initials, according to Reuters. Euronews, citing Serbian state broadcaster RTS, identified Igor Zmiric, commander of the Special Antiterrorism Unit, as one of those detained. That identification has not been established through the ministry's public naming of the suspects. ^[1][3]

Euronews also reported that an activist had accused Zmiric of kicking her while she lay on the garage floor. This remains an accusation against him, separate from any finding of guilt. ^[3]

The allegations have not been proved in court. Whether prosecutors have filed charges or sought further detention, and what evidence supports the case, is not known. No response from the detained officers or their lawyers, or a reaction to the arrests from those allegedly abused, has been reported. ^[1][3][4]

The immediate change is in the state's position. The ministry is now publicly alleging that members of an elite police unit inflicted suffering in a government facility.

Detainees' accounts preceded the arrests

Civil Rights Defenders published its account in September 2025, drawing on reporting by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, or BIRN. The rights group said at least 15 people detained at a mid-August pro-democracy protest had been taken to a garage at government headquarters. ^[2]

BIRN obtained testimony from nine detainees, eight of whom described mistreatment, according to the group. Their accounts included threats, slapping, kicking, pepper spray, spitting and insults. Some also described phones being smashed. These were detainees' accounts of what happened in custody, not court findings. ^[2]

The number of witnesses gives those earlier allegations weight as a subject for investigation. Eight people described mistreatment in the same detention setting, according to the rights group's account. But that does not establish which officer did what, or how each account connects to the suspects now detained. ^[2]

Those earlier accounts named a different commander, Marko Kricak, as someone detainees accused of assaulting them in the garage. Civil Rights Defenders said the police director stated that there were no indications Kricak had exceeded his authority. ^[2]

The account naming Kricak and the later account identifying Zmiric cannot be treated as interchangeable. They name different men in connection with alleged conduct at the garage, and their relationship to the specific acts now under investigation has not been established. ^[2][3]

The state's initial handling of the allegations is part of the accountability question. An investigation into alleged abuse must establish what happened to detainees. A credible accounting should also explain how the state assessed those allegations when they first became public.

A test after the protest movement's election win

The demonstrations began after the canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed on November 1, 2024. They continued through 2025 and 2026, developing into a student-led movement that challenged the government. Al Jazeera reported that the movement won the October 2026 parliamentary election and demanded changes to state institutions, including the police and intelligence services. ^[1][4]

That political setting gives the detention case significance beyond the officers involved. Police accountability was among the movement's demands, and the allegations concern what happened to protesters after officers had taken control of them. ^[2][4]

Arrests are a first procedural step, not proof that the state has answered those demands. The test now is whether prosecutors can connect specific suspects to specific acts, while giving the accused an opportunity to answer the allegations.

The next concrete developments to watch are prosecutors' decisions on charges and further detention, and any disclosure that explains how the new case relates to the testimony published in 2025.