[Belgrade/Sarajevo/Zagreb/Pristina/Podgorica], 11 July 2026.

Civil society organisations and individuals from across the region strongly condemn the physical assault on writer and activist Vladimir Arsenijević, founder and programme director of the Krokodil association, which took place this morning beneath Branko’s Bridge in Belgrade and also prevented a memorial gathering marking the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica from being held.

According to Arsenijević’s own testimony, a group of 20 to 30 people was waiting for him at the site where the commemoration, organised by the “People Remember People” coalition, was due to take place. The attackers physically assaulted and threatened him and covered the area with messages glorifying convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić and the Army of Republika Srpska, which perpetrated the genocide. As a result of the attack, the planned commemoration was cancelled for security reasons—which means that the attackers achieved their immediate objective: they prevented citizens of Serbia from publicly and respectfully paying tribute to the victims of the genocide. According to prior announcements, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Serbia was also due to attend the event, making this attack an additional blow to diplomatic and international efforts to confront the past and promote reconciliation in the region.

The sight of an organised group lying in wait for and physically assaulting someone simply because he was preparing to pay tribute to the victims of a massacre, while leaving the area covered with messages glorifying war criminals, is a horrifying reminder of the pattern of fascist Blackshirts who, on the eve of and during Hitler’s offensives in the Second World War, systematically beat and intimidated dissenters in the streets in order to purge the public sphere of disobedient voices before violence took complete control. The signatories to this statement believe that this comparison is not exaggerated, but rather constitutes a serious alarm that demands a broad public protest in support of civic activists, including Arsenijević.

The signatories to this statement believe that:

• This attack on Arsenijević is neither the first nor an isolated incident, but a direct consequence of the decades-long policy of denying and relativising the genocide in Srebrenica pursued by official institutions and the majority of the media in Serbia. The refusal to unequivocally recognise the genocide, together with the glorification of convicted war criminals and the absence of systematic condemnation of historical revisionism, creates an atmosphere in which violence against those who insist on the truth becomes possible, and even expected.
• Responsibility for this morning’s attack lies not only with the immediate perpetrators, but also with the institutions that have tolerated and encouraged the narrative of denial for years, thereby sending the message that violence against defenders of the culture of remembrance will also go without serious consequences.
• Preventing a peaceful commemoration of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide constitutes an attack not only on Arsenijević as an individual, but also on the right of the victims and their families to dignified remembrance, as well as on the fundamental principles of freedom of assembly and expression in Serbia.
  The presence of graffiti glorifying war criminals at the site of the planned commemoration is an obvious symptom of the systemic denial of genocide taking place in Serbia with state support.
• For decades, through the work of the Krokodil association and his personal engagement, writer and activist Vladimir Arsenijević has built a space for dialogue and cultural exchange both within the region and globally. He has consistently worked to confront the legacy of the wars of the 1990s on the basis of facts. An attack on him is an attack on all of us engaged in the same work.

We call on:

• The competent institutions of the Republic of Serbia to urgently, thoroughly and transparently investigate the attack, identify and prosecute all participants and those who commissioned it, including any organisers and instigators.
• State authorities to ensure the physical safety of Vladimir Arsenijević, as well as of all activists who will gather this evening at Republic Square at an event organised by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, and to publicly condemn the attack at the highest level.
• The highest state officials of the Republic of Serbia to unequivocally and publicly recognise the genocide in Srebrenica, break with the practice of relativising the crimes and glorifying war criminals, and condemn every form of historical revisionism—because without such a break, attacks like this morning’s remain a likely consequence rather than an exception.
• The institutions of the Republic of Serbia to include 11 July in the official calendar of commemorative dates, thereby contributing to the building of lasting peace through a culture of remembrance grounded in facts.
• Regional and international organisations, embassies and institutions of the European Union to condemn this attack, monitor developments and publicly highlight the responsibility of Serbian institutions for the atmosphere in which such attacks occur.

The media and the public across the region not to allow the normalisation of violence and hate speech directed against those engaged in the culture of remembrance and in confronting the past.

We express our full solidarity with Vladimir Arsenijević, the coalition of non-governmental organisations and activists “People Remember People”, and all those who, despite threats and violence, continue to advocate for truth, justice and reconciliation in the region.

SIGNATORIES TO THE STATEMENT (161)