Belgrade Centre for Security Policy

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, BCBP, and Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, YUCOM, on Friday urged the Prosecution for Organized Crime, TOK, when prosecuting people smuggling gangs, to examine information published by BIRN about the links between Ministry of Interior officials and smugglers.

Islamist extremism in Serbia is decreasing but far-right extremism is on the rise, according to research by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, BCBP, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, presented on Friday.

Some of the Orthodox Templars are taking oath. Dusan Ivkovic and Stevan Djokic (first two on the left side), Nemanja Ristic (last on the right side). Photo: Facebook

Izabela Kisic, executive director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, said there were "huge differences" in the punishments handed down against Serbian citizens convicted of joining Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and those who fought on the side of Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.

According to the Hungarian sociologist Balint Magyar, in a 'mafia state' "The state itself, at the top, works as a criminal organisation."

Her commitment to human rights then led her to Front Line Defenders, an organisation she herself founded in 2001 and played a key role in as executive director for 15 years.

In May this year Lawlor, now 68, continued her professional path in the field, becoming the UN's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, HRDs.

Beatovic told BIRN that the form of the protest frees people from fear and makes them aware that they are not alone.

"In Serbia there are many frightened and blackmailed people. This noisy protest helps them to see that there is an opposing side," he said.

Low pay, negative selection in promotion, poor working conditions and the lack of training and development are prompting many staff to quit the defence ministry and the military in Serbia, a new report by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy says.

Zivkovic, however, was investigated on suspicion of organising the participation of Serb fighters in the war. He was arrested in August last year in the southern Serbian town of Krusevac but on June 12 the local prosecutor's office told BIRN it had suspended the investigation against him, without specifying why.

Serbia's budget proposal for 2019 envisages a big increase in spending of about 40 per cent for the army and 13.5 per cent for the police.

In 2019, the government plans to allocate the Interior Ministry about 720 million euros, while the Defence Ministry will get about 792 million euros.