A Serbian police officer now faces criminal charges and possible dismissal for photographing four ruling party activists—the same men who were pardoned by President Aleksandar Vučić after beating a female student so severely she required hospitalization.
The legal reversal, reported by weekly magazine Vreme, illustrates what critics describe as inverted accountability under Serbia's governing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The four enforcers, whose assault on the student in Novi Sad sparked a political crisis that forced Prime Minister Miloš Vučević to resign a year ago, have filed charges against officer Željko Kolbas for allegedly photographing them at a police station without consent.
The photograph in question was later published by opposition politician Marinika Tepić on social media, leading to public identification of the assailants. Now Kolbas has been detained, and the Ministry of Interior has initiated disciplinary proceedings that could result in his termination.
His attorney, former police officer Goran Stupar, stated: "The full power of state apparatus has been directed at this courageous officer to protect the privacy of four SNS activists."
In the Balkans, as across post-conflict regions, the path forward requires acknowledging the past without being imprisoned by it. Yet this case suggests a different pattern—one where those who documented abuse face harsher consequences than those who committed it. The four enforcers were pardoned by the president shortly after turning themselves in, while the officer who photographed them now stands accused as a criminal.
The incident that triggered the original crisis occurred when the four SNS activists severely beat a female student in Novi Sad, an attack that required her hospitalization and sparked widespread public outrage. The political fallout was significant enough to force the prime minister's resignation—a rare moment of accountability in Serbia's increasingly centralized political system.
Yet the presidential pardon swiftly neutralized that accountability, and now the legal machinery has turned against the officer who helped expose the perpetrators. As one observer noted: "The four 'heroes' were pardoned by the president, while the police officer may face the defendant's bench, possibly as a former officer if dismissed."
The case reflects broader concerns about rule of law and institutional independence in Serbia, where critics argue that political loyalty increasingly determines legal outcomes. For officers like Kolbas, the message appears clear: documenting abuses by ruling party members carries greater professional risk than committing them.
The charges against Kolbas center on alleged privacy violations—a legal argument that critics find darkly ironic given that the four enforcers were public assailants whose identities were already matters of criminal investigation. Their transformation from pardoned perpetrators to claiming victim status represents what opposition figures describe as a complete inversion of justice.
The case continues in Belgrade courts, where the officer who photographed evidence of politically connected violence now faces the prospect of criminal conviction and career termination—while those he photographed enjoy presidential clemency.
