Category: Elections, media and institutions
Period: from 2018
Outcome: No one investigated (as of 21 Oct 2023)
Dragana Grabovica, an employee of the Protector of Citizens, says five workplace harassment proceedings have been brought against Zoran Pašalić, and in October 2023 staff filed two criminal complaints against him and two other employees. According to a letter from staff reported by Nova, court rulings overturned the dismissal of a driver and the removal of a former chief of staff, with compensation of roughly five million dinars. Pašalić says anyone could be behind the anonymous letter. Grabovica says she lost her own case, and according to the Green-Left Front, 54 MPs submitted a motion in April to remove him.
In August 2021, Dragana Grabovica, an employee of the Protector of Citizens, said she was preparing a mobbing lawsuit against Zoran Pašalić: she had been moved to the media department, left with an empty desk, and then faced disciplinary proceedings. Three female colleagues had already sued.
In April 2023, she said five workplace harassment proceedings had been brought, one lawsuit in 2018 and four in 2021, and that in a case over unlawful dismissal a first-instance ruling had gone in a colleague's favour. By her account in May 2024, she lost her own case; by then she had retired.
On 5 and 21 October 2023, staff filed two criminal complaints against Pašalić and employees Mirjana Nikolić and Jasna Bogosavljev. Pašalić did not comment to Danas.
In May 2024, a group of employees sent a letter asking the National Assembly to begin proceedings to remove him; he says anyone could be behind the anonymous letter. The letter, reported by Nova, states that court rulings overturned the dismissal of a driver and the removal of a former chief of staff, with compensation of roughly five million dinars.
In August 2023, Pašalić told RTS that the term femicide was not the most appropriate. In February 2024, he announced a constitutional review of the provisions of the Law on Gender Equality on gender-sensitive language. In March 2025, FemPlatz and 15 other organisations called for his removal from office.
In January 2025, the Ombudsman posted a call for applications on its website for two deputies, one for the rights of persons deprived of liberty and one for children's rights and gender equality. The same page also carries the decision to cancel those calls.
On 15 October 2026, the Green-Left Front wrote to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, stating that in April 54 MPs had submitted a proposal to dismiss Pašalić.