Police violence in Valjevo

Category: Violence against citizens

Period: from 13 Aug 2025

Outcome: Under investigation (as of 1 Oct 2026)

On the night of 14 to 15 August 2025, police in Valjevo beat people in the streets, in bars, in police vans and at the Police Department, among them minors and people who had not been at the protest. A forensic medical report on 25 injured people describes blows to people already lying on the ground, broken bones and humiliation, while Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that „the police are not attacking anyone“. The case was taken over by the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime, which has interviewed 33 victims, but no one has been charged, while 34 people are being prosecuted for attacking the police.

Beatings in the streets and at the police station

On the night of 14 to 15 August 2025, police in Valjevo beat people in the streets, in a betting shop, in bakeries and in a taxi, in police vans and at the Police Department, among them minors and people who had not been at the protest. The protest was a rally in support of café owner Vladimir Mihailović, who had been injured by masked attackers the night before.

According to an official response from the Valjevo Health Centre, 43 citizens and 21 members of the Interior Ministry sought medical help over the course of two days.

Injuries and testimonies

A forensic medical report on 25 injured people, published by BIRN, describes people already lying on the ground being hit with batons and kicked, broken bones and humiliation at the Valjevo Police Department. Dušan Radović, Vladimir Đorđević and Tamara Jeremić have spoken publicly about how they were beaten; Đorđević says he lost his job afterwards.

Response from the authorities and the Ombudsman

Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that „the police do not attack anyone“, Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar called the beaten minor an „invented patient“, and President Aleksandar Vučić said police officers had „withstood“ attacks by a „gang“.

The head of the Valjevo Police Department told the Protector of Citizens that force had been used lawfully. In an oversight note based on police records and a conversation with the department head, Ombudsman Zoran Pašalić „found no irregularities or unlawful conduct“, and a year later he still had not closed the proceedings. In April and October 2026, the Valjevo City Assembly rejected opposition proposals to request information on the investigation and to condemn the violence of 14 August, respectively.

Complaints against police officers

Twenty-seven injured parties filed criminal complaints on 10 October 2025 against 28 police officers, among them the head of the Valjevo Police Department. Because the Valjevo prosecutor's office failed to open an investigation for months, the case was taken over in May 2026 by the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime. By July it had heard 25 injured parties, but none of the police officers.

Seven more injured parties have since filed complaints, the last on 5 October 2026. According to the prosecutor's office's reply of 30 October, 33 injured parties have been interviewed and eight witnesses questioned in the pre-investigation proceedings, and no one has been charged.

Prosecution of protesters

At the same time, 34 people are being prosecuted for attacking the police, and several protesters were placed under house arrest after the protest of 16 August, when the offices of the SNS, the City Administration and the prosecutor's office were trashed.

Attacks by SNS supporters on demonstrators in Vrbas, Bačka Palanka and Novi Sad in the same days are covered as a separate affair (“SNS supporters' attack on citizens in Vrbas and Bačka Palanka”).

Calls for resignations and the police chief's removal

On 26 October 2026, the day after the election, residents of Valjevo gave the police leadership 24 hours to resign. When no resignations came, students handed the police director a demand the next day to dismiss the head of the Valjevo Police Department and four other senior officers; the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy also called for resignations. The Interior Ministry said that the department head, Vlada Jerinić, had been dismissed at his own request and reassigned to the information technology sector.

The rally also demanded that disciplinary proceedings against police officer Katarina Petrović be dropped and that the proceedings against her husband, who was stripped of his rank, be reviewed (Persecution of police officer Katarina Petrović). According to his objection, almost all the officers who testified against him are suspected of beating citizens; one of them, Milovan Mirković, confirmed at the hearing that he is a suspect.

Police officers' names on published lists

On 15 August 2025, the Kreni-promeni movement published a video naming police officers it says beat people in Valjevo, among them Željko Rašević and Nemanja Pavlović. A year later, students blockading the School of Electrical Engineering (ETF) published, with the message “We know who beat the kids in Valjevo”, a list of 27 police officers from Valjevo, nearby stations, Priboj and Užice, ranging from Valjevo police chief Vlada Jerinić and substation commander Milan Cvijić to rank-and-file officers.

Minister Ivica Dačić called the public reading of the officers' names at the anniversary “a continuation of the brutal campaign against the police”. The lawyer of a police officer from Priboj who took his own life in July 2026 says he was not in Valjevo that day.

Participants

Aleksandar Vučić: Called the story of the beaten boy “a lie” and the anniversary “satanic rituals”, and held a rally in Valjevo (commented on the case)
Ivica Dačić: Called the reading of police officers' names “a continuation of the brutal campaign against the police” and said the police had been too defensive (commented on the case)
Zlatibor Lončar: Called the minor who was brutally beaten by police at the protest in Valjevo a “made-up patient” (commented on the case)
Vlada Jerinić: According to criminal complaints by 27 injured parties, he is suspected of ill-treatment and torture as a co-perpetrator; he told the Ombudsman that the force used was lawful (responsible)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: Police officers in Valjevo beat people who had already been subdued, including minors and people who had not been at the protest (responsible)
Valjevo Police Department: According to a forensic report published by BIRN, detainees at the police station were beaten and pressured to sign documents, and one was denied a doctor (responsible)
Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia: Its minister denied that a minor had been beaten. (commented on the case)
Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Valjevo: According to the injured parties' lawyers, it failed for months to act effectively on complaints against 28 police officers, so the case was handed to the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime (responsible)
Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office: It authorised the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime after the Valjevo prosecution failed to act (investigation and courts)
Public Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime: Conducting pre-investigation proceedings into the violence: by the end of October 2026 it had interviewed 33 injured parties and questioned eight witnesses (investigation and courts)
Internal Control Sector of the Interior Ministry (MUP): According to lawyer Carević, it is not acting on the prosecution's request; a year after the violence, no police officer has been indicted or suspended (responsible)
Higher Court in Valjevo: It placed nine participants in the 16 August protest under house arrest and released eight (investigation and courts)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Valjevo: It questioned people detained at the 16 August protest; some of the questioning also took place at the Higher Court (investigation and courts)
Zoran Pašalić: As Ombudsman, he found no irregularities, relying on police records; according to lawyers, he did not contact the injured parties (responsible)
Protector of Citizens (Ombudsman): He based his inspection of the Valjevo Police Department on police records and found no irregularities; a year on, the proceedings have still not been concluded (responsible)
Dragan Vasiljević: Students sent him a written request to dismiss the head of the Valjevo Police Department and four other senior officers (commented on the case)
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy: It called on the chief of the Valjevo Police Department and other senior police officers to resign (oversight and the public)
Milan Simić: According to citizens and students in Valjevo, he bears command responsibility for the violence; they are demanding his resignation and dismissal (responsible)
Dragan Dobrisavljević: According to a list compiled by blockading students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ETF), he is allegedly among those responsible for the violence in Valjevo; citizens are demanding his resignation on the basis of command responsibility (responsible)
Predrag Radosavljević: According to a list compiled by blockading students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ETF), he is allegedly among those responsible for the violence in Valjevo; citizens are demanding his resignation on the basis of command responsibility (responsible)
Milan Cvijić: According to a list compiled by blockading students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ETF), he is allegedly among those responsible for the violence in Valjevo; citizens call him one of those most responsible (responsible)
Đorđe Marinković: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the senior police officers responsible for the beating of people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Predrag Milovanović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Ivan Andrić: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Zoran Vukosavljević: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Luka Alić: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Sveta Belić: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Radosav Pavlović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Milovan Mirković: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Željko Rašević: According to a list by blockading ETF students and the Kreni-promeni movement, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Aleksandar Tomić: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Nemanja Pavlović: According to a list by blockading ETF students and the Kreni-promeni movement, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Igor Milutinović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Nemanja Filipović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the senior police officers responsible for the beating of people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Nemanja Petrović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the senior police officers responsible for the beating of people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Nikola Srećković: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the senior police officers responsible for the beating of people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Filip Obradović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the senior police officers responsible for the beating of people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Edin Krajina: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Salen Mujezinović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Nurija Terzić: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Božidar Grabovičić: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Blagoje Kelović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Dragan Kojadinović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the police officers who beat people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Miodrag Perović: According to a list compiled by blockading ETF students, he was allegedly among the senior police officers responsible for the beating of people in Valjevo in August 2025 (responsible)
Valjevo City Assembly: Its majority did not back the opposition's proposals to request information on the investigation (April 2026) or to condemn the violence of 14 August (October 2026) (commented on the case)