Сербия

On 20 and 21 November 2024, Serbia's Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue delivered an opening speech at the beginning of the Regional Conference on "Combating Hate Crimes and Hate Speech in the Digital and Real Spheres in South-Eastern Europe – Strategies and Policies". The conference programme focused on ways to improve the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes and criminalized hate speech. Special attention was paid to the differences between offline and online crimes. The conference was attended by representatives of state institutions and OSCE field operations from Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, as well as members of the academic community and civil society organizations from South-Eastern Europe. Experts from Germany and the OSCE presented experiences and examples of good practice related to improving the investigation and prosecution of bias-motivated crimes.

The Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, organized and held a Co-ordination Meeting of Representatives of Competent State Authorities and Civil Society Organizations for the Prevention of Hate Crimes in the Republic of Serbia on 20 and 21 June 2024. The purpose of the meeting was to continue co-operation, exchange experiences, and explore opportunities for establishing co-operation among competent state authorities and civil society organizations that have previously carried out activities to tackle hate crimes in Serbia.  

Notable case:  

A criminal complaint was filed with the Higher Public Prosecution Office in Novi Sad against two men on suspicion rape, abuse and torture.

After the investigation, the Higher Public Prosecution Office in Novi Sad filed an indictment charging the defendants with having, on two occasions, in the victim's apartment, committed numerous humiliating acts of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse of the victim motivated by bias against his sexual orientation.

In April 2024, the Higher Court in Novi Sad found the defendants guilty, sentencing each of them to nine years of imprisonment for committing the criminal offences of rape (Art. 178 of the Criminal Code) and abuse and torture (Art. 137 CC in conjunction with Art. 54a CC). The appeal procedure is ongoing.