Driver hits female student on Jurija Gagarina Street

Category: Violence against citizens

Period: from 24 Jan 2025

Outcome: Complaint dismissed or proceedings halted (as of 4 Aug 2025)

At a student blockade on Jurija Gagarina Street on 24 January 2025, a woman drove her car into student Kristina Vasiljević and another student. According to the Faculty of Agriculture, the student suffered a skull fracture and a brain contusion. According to KRIK, Chief Prosecutor Nenad Stefanović took the case away from the prosecutor who had charged the driver with attempted murder, and the offence was then reclassified as a lesser one. Aleksandar Vučić pardoned the driver, and on 1 August 2025 the court dismissed the indictment, so there was no trial.

Hit at the blockade

At a student blockade on Jurija Gagarina Street on 24 January 2025, according to a prosecution statement, a woman driver stopped her car in front of the stewards, then suddenly accelerated and hit student Kristina Vasiljević, who was standing in front of the vehicle with a megaphone. The student was thrown onto the bonnet and fell head first onto the kerb. According to the Faculty of Agriculture, she suffered a skull fracture, an epidural haematoma and a brain contusion. The car also hit another student.

Case reassigned and charge reduced

The driver was detained on suspicion of attempted aggravated murder, and in March, according to KRIK, prosecutor Jelena Belopavlović indicted her for attempted murder. According to KRIK, tabloids, among them Informer, then attacked the prosecutor, and chief prosecutor Nenad Stefanović took the case away from her at the defence's request and assigned it to Miodrag Marković.

The Higher Court sent the indictment back, in May the prosecution reclassified the offence as a serious offence against public safety (punishable by up to five years in prison), and the driver was released from custody.

Pardon announced

On 16 July 2025, according to N1, President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Informer TV that he would pardon the driver, saying he “must correct the injustice inflicted by prosecutors and courts”. According to KRIK, Marković had called on him on the same channel to do so.

Kristina Vasiljević said the announcement was “honestly really chilling” and sent the message “that justice absolutely does not exist”.

Pardon and disciplinary complaints

Vučić pardoned the driver, and on 1 August 2025, according to KRIK, the Third Basic Court dismissed the indictment, so there was no trial.

CEPRIS, the Judicial Union and more than 200 judges and prosecutors reportedly filed a disciplinary complaint against Marković, and CEPRIS and YUCOM filed one against Stefanović; the outcome of the complaints could not be found.

Participants

Aleksandar Vučić: He pardoned the driver who hit a student, so the court dismissed the indictment and there was no trial (responsible)
Nenad Stefanović: At the defence's request, he took the case away from prosecutor Belopavlović because she had attended a protest, and gave it to his deputy Marković (responsible)
Miodrag Marković: According to the disciplinary complaint, he watered down the charging motion without clear reasons, and called on Informer for the driver to be pardoned (responsible)
Jelena Belopavlović: In March 2025 she charged the driver with attempted murder (investigation and courts)
Informer: After the indictment, he attacked prosecutor Belopavlović as part of a judiciary that had gone "rogue from the state, the law, rights and justice" (responsible)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: It detained the driver; on the prosecutor's order she was held in custody on suspicion of attempted aggravated murder (investigation and courts)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for Combating Corruption: It ordered the driver held in custody, indicted her for attempted murder, then downgraded the charge to a lesser offence (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Belgrade: He remanded the driver in detention, sent back the attempted murder indictment and released her from detention (investigation and courts)
Third Basic Court in Belgrade: After the pardon, it dismissed the indictment against the driver on 1 August 2025 (investigation and courts)
Centre for Judicial Research (CEPRIS): Reportedly filed disciplinary complaints against prosecutors Marković and Stefanović (oversight and the public)
Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM): Reportedly filed a disciplinary complaint against prosecutor Stefanović together with CEPRIS (oversight and the public)
Students in blockade: They called the announced pardon a trampling of the rule of law and protested in Zemun (oversight and the public)
Rodoljub Šabić: Demanded that the Ministry of Justice explain the reasons for the pardon (oversight and the public)
Bojana Savović: Called on the High Prosecutorial Council to act because, in her view, prosecutor Marković had breached the principle of impartiality on Informer (oversight and the public)
Jugoslav Tintor: As the injured student's legal representative, he challenged the pardon, saying no individual circumstance justified it (oversight and the public)

Victims and others harmed

Kristina Vasiljević