Serbian activist Irfan Ugljanin stays in prison as former Niš assembly head Igor Novaković delays jail term

Irfan Ugljanin, a civil activist from Novi Pazar and president of the Udruženje građana Pazarski građanski pokret, is serving a prison sentence in Niš after his arrest at the end of January 2026 on multiple criminal charges, including alleged fraud linked to a pool construction project for Elvira Klimenta in Germany. Ugljanin says the trial was politically engineered, noting he has filed more than 100 criminal complaints against local officials and members of the Sandžak Democratic Party, accusing them of corruption involving over €60 million.

Former president of the Niš Assembly Igor Novaković was sentenced to one and a half years for abuse of office while serving as director of Jugoistoč. He has repeatedly postponed his surrender to the correctional facility in Ćuprija through successive appeals, most recently citing a required cardiovascular procedure, which has pushed the next scheduled appearance to early August 2026. Further appeals are still pending.