Judges, prosecutors and lawyers protest , Belgrade, Dec. 7 2025 (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
Several hundred people assembled in Belgrade on Dec. 7 at a protest called by a group of judges and prosecutors from all over Serbia against political pressure on the justice system, which is evident from the announced amendments to judicial laws and reorganization of prosecutors' offices.
The protest opened with the Serbian national anthem. The main banner read, "Justice is blind, the justice system is not." Milimir Lukic, an Appellate Court justice, said that, with the announced amendments, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime would "definitively lose its autonomy and independence" and the special quality that it must have.
"The moment [the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime] becomes a part of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, the loss of its institutional capacity will be a direct consequence, and ultimately the result will be first the weakening, and then the vanishing of judicial bodies responsible for organized crime," he said.
What is most concerning is that the state is unambiguously abandoning the institutional fight against organized crime, Lukic said, calling on the Serbian government to withdraw the bill and urging all members of parliament to not accept the legislation.
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