‘Bruises All Over’: Experts Document ‘Punitive’ Police Violence in Serbia

“This was not just the conclusion of my examination,” he said. “Reports from the Valjevo hospital, where the man was also examined, point to the same type of bruising.” Additional bruising on the neck may have been caused by fists or feet, he said. On Thursday, hundreds of people gathered in Valjevo to mark nine months since the August 2025 crackdown on anti-government protesters angry at the authorities’ failure to punish those responsible for the collapse of a concrete canopy at a newly renovated railway station in northern Serbia the previous November, in which 16 people died. The protesters marched to the local police headquarters behind alarge banner with the slogan “Valjevo remembers.” “It has been nine months since 14 August, and one question remains unanswered: who were the police officers who beat children and citizens on the streets of Valjevo that day? This is not a side issue, this is an issue of accountability, justice and basic trust in institutions that are supposed to protect citizens, not drag them through the streets, stamp on their heads and kick them while they lie helpless on the ground,” a student protester told the crowd in front of the police station. In written testimony, the man with bruising all over his body said he was struck repeatedly as he lay on the ground and then again at the local police station. His testimony chimes with that of others injured in the crackdown. As mobile phone footage of the violence emerged online, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, head of the Socialist Party of Serbia of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, said police officers “attack no one”. “If attacked, they defend themselves,” Dacic told reporters. Evidence collected by Alempijevic and Nikolic suggest otherwise. Alempijevic, who previously investigated reports of torture used against protesters in Belarus, said the most common injuries in Valjevo were caused by police batons, primarily to the back, lower back, flanks, buttocks, thighs, and upper arms. He and Nikolic also frequently noted abrasions to the elbows, knees and forearms, injuries typical of contact with the ground or being dragged across it. In some cases, they documented nose fractures, kidney contusions and extensive muscle tissue damage. “These patterns indicate that in a significant number of the analysed cases, the use of force had a punitive rather than exclusively controlling character,” said Alempijevic. The police did not respond to a request for comment. Conduct had ‘symbolic, disciplinary and humiliating character’ Alempijevic and Nikolic were commissioned to investigate by those injured or their lawyers. Twenty-seven people filed criminal complaints against police officers from Valjevo, Uzice and Prijepolje, accusing them of abuse and torture. The Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Valjevo told BIRN: “In the cases opened following the filed criminal complaints, as well as ex officio, a pre-investigation procedure is currently underway.” Alempijevic said his findings showed that the injuries inflicted by police were not limited only to active participants in the protest, but to minors, first-aiders wearing clearly marked clothing, and a taxi driver, as well as people in cafes and bystanders. This, he said, suggests police did not use force only in a narrowly defined operational situation. The report compiled by Alempijevic and Nikolic contains one particularly chilling case – that of a minor. “After he raised his hands and said: ‘I am a minor, I did nothing wrong!’, one member of the Intervention Police Unit struck him on the back with a baton, causing him to fall,” the report states. “Two more officers then approached him, followed by a larger group of masked police officers who continued striking him with batons and kicking him in the head and body.” The report also cites several cases of verbal abuse, including threats, as well as the taking of photographs and “behaviour that framed the intervention as punishment” rather than an immediate, necessary response to danger. One of the people injured said the police threatened them with death. Several accused officers at the local police station of taking photographs of them on mobile phones. One said police demanded his signature on a document, “with a warning not to delay”. “These elements carry analytical weight because they show that the conduct was not solely procedural or aimed at maintaining control, but also had a symbolic, disciplinary, and humiliating character,” the report states. Shortly after midnight, a man was detained by police in a betting shop in the town centre. Ordered to keep his hands above his head, the man said he was struck repeatedly. The beating continued as he was escorted to a police vehicle, along with verbal abuse, threats and humiliation. “In one case, it was explicitly recorded that detainees were forced to pass through a so-called gauntlet of police officers,” the report states. “In another, testimony indicates that detainees were forced to bark like dogs and were asked, ‘Who are the dogs now?’ while being kicked in the genitals and later filmed at the Valjevo Police Department.” In Serbian, ‘dogs’ is sometimes used as slang for police officers. “This clearly shows that the use of force did not stop once factual control over the detainees had been established,” the report adds. In some cases, medical examinations were conducted inside the police station, in the presence of police officers. Officers also attended later medical exams at the hospital. One person said they were denied medical care. The police presence, the report states, “raises the question of the degree of autonomy and confidentiality of medical contact, which is especially significant given that access to a doctor is, according to international standards, one of the three protective mechanisms for preventing torture and abuse”. Victim’s head stamped on Some of those injured in Valjevo had head injuries. According to hospital records, the head of one of the victims was stamped on as he was lying on the ground with his hands behind his back. He was diagnosed with bruising and swelling around the nose, bleeding from the nostrils and a double linear fracture of the nasal bone without displacement. He had red marks running parallel across his back. “This case carries major analytical significance because it shows how serious injuries were inflicted on victims even after they were already on the ground,” the report found. In another case, a man described being struck with batons, knocked to the ground and enduring further blows and kicks, cutting his head. Hospital records state he was then dragged along the ground. Another case in the report involves a double fracture of the nasal bones after the victim was kicked in the back of the head and hit the ground face-first. The day after the protest, the Office of the Ombudsman launched an investigation into the police conduct and said it would interview those people who were detained. However, legal representatives of more than 10 people injured that night say their clients have yet to be contacted by the Office, which also did not respond to a request for comment for this story.