Serbia academic intimidation crackdown

In early August 2026, Professor Stevan Filipović of Belgrade’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts was violently assaulted while documenting the demolition of a protected cultural monument. He suffered a concussion, a hip hematoma, a leg injury requiring a brace, a broken lip and loss of consciousness, and claimed the attackers were “paid thugs” linked to the ruling party. The same day the Serbian Green‑Left Front condemned the attack and highlighted the parallel persecution of academic Milutin Kostić.

On 15 August, the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade opened a criminal investigation into Filipović’s assault, ordering the collection of CCTV footage, identification of the assailants and recovery of his stolen phone. Academic bodies—including the Academic Plenum and the Community of Arts and Culture (ZUK)—denounced the incident as an attack on freedom of thought and expression, urging swift, independent judicial action. Filipović called on citizens not to be intimidated and pledged to pursue his attackers. The case underscores a widening pattern of intimidation and politically‑motivated violence against scholars and journalists in Serbia, and the authorities’ tentative legal response.