Actual attacks on jounalists, Aleksa Stanković, Belgrade, 02.07.2025.

Translations: Beograd 

After members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs- Serbian Police, broke the blockade in Belgrade, at the corner of Kraljica Marija and Ruzveltova streets, on the night 02. July around one hour past midnight, they noticed Stanković who was calmly standing on the sidelines and watching the event, and a moment later a member of the MUP approached him and asked to introduce himself. When the photojournalist did so and said he was from the media, the policeman took him into custody, forced him into a police vehicle (the “marica”) and ordered him to turn off the camera.

In the vehicle, a masked policeman threatened him because of a video that a journalist made two days earlier, which shows policemen throwing insulting comments at girls. That same policeman repeatedly hit the journalist on the head with an open fist and threatened him, asking him to delete his Instagram profile.

Then another unmasked policeman entered the vehicle and ordered the memory card from the camera to be handed over to him. After the photojournalist refused, they started beating him – with fists, slaps and a cap that was taken off his head. In the end, in order to avoid further violence, he handed over the card, which the policeman destroyed in front of him.

The officers then asked him to delete all the footage showing the police. Stanković explained that he is a photojournalist and that he is doing his job. The masked policeman then hit his head several times against the window of the vehicle. The police officers who were outside the vehicle repeatedly opened the door to check what was happening, but none of them stopped the violence.

After a few minutes, a superior police officer arrived who said that they had to go on and threatened Stanković with the words “I’ll never see you again”.

Aleksa, in agreement with NUNS, filed a criminal complaint against, at that time, unknown police officers.