The opposition party Serbian Center (SRCE) announced it would file a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office against the head of the Ministry of Interior’s Unit for the Protection of Certain Persons and Facilities, Marko Kričak, over alleged crimes of “torture and abuse” as well as “sexual harassment.”

According to available video recordings and witness accounts, on August 14 Kričak, together with his subordinates, “physically attacked and beat protesters, using batons as well.”

“Student Nikolina Sinđelić publicly testified that Kričak threatened to rape her, slapped and struck her, saying: ‘I will strip you naked and rape you in front of everyone, they will all watch.’ After being detained for three hours in a garage at 22–26 Nemanjina Street, where students were tied up, forced to lie on the concrete and kneel against the wall, they were taken to a police station,” the statement said.

The party recalled that Article 137, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code clearly stipulates: any official who mistreats or humiliates another person shall be punished with imprisonment of two to ten years.

The opposition Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) on August 16 urged the Ombudsman to immediately launch proceedings regarding allegations of “brutal beatings, torture, and threats directed at student Nikolina Sinđelić” during the protest in Belgrade.

The president of PSG’s Youth Organization, Jelena Banjac, stated that “such conduct by the police is proof of helplessness and cowardice in the service of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).” She stressed that the police “display their force by detaining a student for several hours, beating her, and uttering the most horrifying insults and threats.”

Nikolina Sinđelić told N1 television that she was deprived of liberty after demonstrations in central Belgrade on August 14, on Nemanjina Street, in the immediate vicinity of the Serbian Government building. According to her, members of the Unit for the Protection of Certain Persons and Facilities (JZO) took her, along with a group of other demonstrators, into the government garage. Shortly afterward, the unit’s head, Marko Kričak, arrived and, she claims, slapped her, slammed her head against a wall, and threatened her with rape.

The Interior Ministry denied that police officers exceeded their authority in their actions. | BGNES