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Under siege by mass protests over the past year, Serbia’s government has drawn support from a crew of convicts and suspected criminals who have confronted demonstrators — sometimes using physical violence.
OCCRP’s Serbian member center, KRIK, has identified more than a dozen individuals who have been involved in criminal cases and have also been present at a pro-government encampment, or at protests.
Some have been convicted of crimes such as assault, illegal weapons, and participating in murder, KRIK reports. Others have come under investigation by authorities for an array of crimes.
The protests have been ongoing since a section of railway station in Serbia’s second city of Novi Sad collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Corruption was linked to shoddy construction, and student-led demonstrations erupted across the country.
Several officials have resigned, while prosecutors have charged 13 people in connection with the collapse. The court has returned the indictment for further investigation.
But protestors say the issue is much broader than the deadly incident at the railway station. Students have occupied universities city by city, denouncing what they see as entrenched corruption and impunity that pervade Serbia’s institutions.
The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has responded with force. Police have clashed with demonstrators, who have also been verbally and physically attacked by ruling party supporters.
Many SNS supporters have gathered outside the offices of President Aleksandar Vučić, at Pionirski park in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The makeshift camp functions as a frontline, preventing protesters from getting too close to Serbia’s leader. The location also provides a convenient staging ground to move quickly and oppose student-led demonstrations in the area.
The Pionirski park camp has become notoriously violent, with attacks on individuals who approach the area and are perceived to have anti-government views. In an October 22 resolution, the European Parliament condemned “the actions of the members of the ruling party in organising an illegal encampment in Pionirski park.”
The European Parliament also said it was “gravely concerned about multiple reports of individuals with criminal backgrounds being mobilised by the ruling party in counter-protest activities, attacking protesters with pyrotechnics, further escalating tensions, violence and polarisation in the country.”
Some of these people have been identified by Serbian news outlets, and others on social media. KRIK has found previously unreported information regarding alleged criminality of some of the individuals, and discovered a few more who were present at Pionirski park or at protest sites.
Among those profiled by KRIK is Petar Panić, who was seen in the Pionirski park camp before a large student protest in Belgrade in March. According to police records, Panic was charged for 16 crimes during the 1990s and early 2000s, including multiple assaults, and illegal possession of a weapon.
Panić’s friendship with Vučić has been well documented on social media. He is also close to other SNS heavyweights including Darko Glišić, minister for public investments, and former construction minister Goran Vesić, who was indicted over the railway station collapse. Panić did not reply to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Mandić was filmed kicking a protester in the back at a demonstration in May, when a group of government supporters showed up. Mandić was tried in a 2001 case of attempted murder of a man who worked as a driver for his politician father. He was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
A representative of Mandić’s company declined to answer questions from reporters, saying they included “a series of incorrect claims, misinterpreted information and manipulative formulations.”
Another man at the Pionirski park camp was Đorđe Prelić, who was spotted in August as a protest against police violence took place nearby.
Prelić once led "Alcatraz,” a group of football hooligans affiliated with Belgrade’s Partizan team. He was convicted of participating in the 2009 murder of a French football fan, who was attacked by Partizan supporters who beat him and threw him from the top of a concrete staircase.
Prelić told KRIK he was at the SNS encampment in Pionirski park to oppose “terrorists,” as he characterized the protesters. He added: “My patriotic, nationalist, Orthodox duty was to oppose such hordes of evil.”
