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** SPOTLIGHT
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Serbians protest, March 2025. Photo: Emilija Knezevic

#FreeToProtest: Serbia’s student-led protest movement

Last week, Serbian students cycled into Strasbourg ([link removed]) , travelling 1,400 kilometres from Novi Sad to speak to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe about protests across Serbia — a movement led by them, which is now into its sixth month.

The protests ([link removed]) were sparked by the collapse of a canopy in the newly renovated Novi Sad railway station, which killed 16 people.

Protesters want answers. What caused the tragedy? Who is taking responsibility, and what measures are being put in place to guarantee people’s safety? The government must be transparent, they say, and the public must be given access to relevant documents and information. And, following an attack ([link removed]) on protesters in March, they want the perpetrators to be held accountable. They want change.

‘You warned us not to make a sound. Now hear our footsteps shake the ground,’ read one of the protest banners.

And yet, instead of listening, the Serbian government has responded with force, cracking down on free speech. Along with the attack in March, in late February police raided the premises of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina in Novi Sad and the offices of several civil society organisations in Belgrade.

Earlier this month, as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response coalition, we travelled to Serbia ([link removed]) to express solidarity with independent journalists facing escalating attacks and to gather more information on the deteriorating state of press freedom. We met with journalists’ associations, media outlets, reporters, and civil society groups to hear directly from them about the threats and challenges they face. We also met with the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of the Interior, the Serbian police, and with representatives from the European Union (EU), the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), and the Council of Europe (COE).

’The EU needs to speak up’, David Diaz-Jogeix ([link removed]) , Senior Director of Programmes at ARTICLE 19, said during a press conference. Serbian authorities, especially President Aleksander Vucic, must stop all public attacks on journalists, activists, and non-governmental organisations. If they refuse to do so, the EU must freeze negotiations regarding Chapter 23 – ‘Judiciary and Fundamental Rights’ – of the EU accession process, thereby stalling progress on Serbia’s ambitions to join the EU.

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** ALSO IN THE NEWS
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IGF organiser Alexei Marciuc with ARTICLE 19's Irina Maister, Antanina Maslyka, and Joanna Szymańska at Moldova's IGF, 15-16 April, 2025. Credit: Capmari Photography

Digital rights and disinformation in Moldova

‘We have an urgent task,’ says ARTICLE 19 Europe’s Joanna Szymańska ([link removed]) . ‘To address disinformation without sliding into censorship. To regulate platforms without outsourcing public accountability. And to protect electoral integrity in a way that builds public trust. We live in a time of profound challenges for human rights and democracy. The digital age presents new challenges, but our commitment to human rights and freedom of expression must remain steadfast.’

The comments come in the wake of last week’s Internet Governance Forum ([link removed]) in Moldova. Over two days in Chisinau, ARTICLE 19 Europe joined civil society partners and other experts to discuss digital rights in times of global political instability, and the challenges facing Moldova and the wider region. Given Russia’s persistent propaganda campaigns, and governments’ ambitions to control the online environment, access to reliable reporting and information online is essential, and key to protecting democracies.

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