Undocumented migrants (BETAPHOTO/Interior Ministry/MO)
The Serbian Ministry of the Interior has taken steps to determine the facts surrounding the video published in the media of migrants being subject to excessive use of force at the Sombor Migrant Reception Center, it was announced late on April 25.
“The [Ministry’s] internal affairs department has taken steps to determine all the facts and circumstances related to the recording published by the media and will handle the police officers responsible according to the letter of the law,” the Ministry said in its press release. Published on Instagram on April 24 by Medical Volunteers International Serbia, the video allegedly shows police brutality that took place that same day.
The Commissariat for Refugees and Migration has said that it would investigate the matter and denied claims made by certain media that the Sombor center houses minors.
Speaking for N1 TV, Petar Vidosavljevic, a representative of the non-governmental Belgrade Center for Human Rights, said that the “social media [videos] which were later broadcast in the media may indicate that excessive force was used.” According to him, unlike some neighboring countries, as of yet, Serbia does not appear to have a systemic problem with this kind of abuse although there have been similar worrisome incidents in the past as well.
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