Amnesty International: Intimidation of Protesters and Journalists, Arms Transfers to Israel Stepped Up

Amnesty International

In its latest annual report, published on April 21, Amnesty International (AI), an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, says that protesters, journalists and civil society organizations continued to face intimidation, harassment and unlawful surveillance as authorities sought to rein in widespread discontent. 

“The government stepped up arms transfers to Israel,” it is said in the report. 

In the section focusing on irresponsible arms transfers, AI said that in the first half of the year, Serbia had exported over EUR 55 million worth of ammunition to Israel, violating its obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty and international humanitarian law. 

Serbia rejected freedom of information requests for details of the transfers between the two countries, according to the report.

In Serbia, 2025 was marked by persistent demonstrations across the country, triggered by the November 2024 collapse of a concrete canopy at the Railway station in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. Protesters alleged corruption-fueled negligence and demanded political accountability from President Aleksandar Vucic as well as early elections and broad reforms, it is said in the report. 

“The protests prompted a heavy-handed response by police and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party,” AI said, adding that protesters were subjected to excessive use of force in multiple cases across the country, cases of intimidation, beatings and ill-treatment by plain-clothes and uniformed police were recorded, and that student protesters were also violently attacked by supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party, whose actions were subsequently condoned and pardoned by the president.

AI further said that “police detained hundreds of protesters arbitrarily, dozens were subjected to slapping and kicking while already restrained, and some detainees were threatened with rape, violence and death.” Journalists were targeted while reporting on the protests and other public-interest issues, with over 160 cases of intimidation and attacks recorded by mid-year, AI said. It added that authorities had continued the unlawful use of spyware and other invasive digital forensic tools against activists and journalists. 

The AI report also points to discrimination against women and girls. Roma and LGBT people, as well as people with disabilities, and also government’s failure to deliver on its commitment to promote accountability for long-standing war crimes in the region and to establish effective judicial cooperation with other countries in the Balkans.