Serbian critics report beatings and spyware targeting before 25 October election

Serbian activists, journalists and opposition figures have described beatings, threats and alleged spyware attacks ahead of the country’s 25 October parliamentary election, according to a Reuters report published on 22 October. The accounts raise questions about the safety of critics as a student-led movement challenges the party of former President Aleksandar Vučić, who is seeking to become prime minister.

Activist Marko Marjanović told Reuters that masked officers took him from a Belgrade street to a police station basement and held him in solitary confinement for two days. He and his lawyer described his treatment, including a beating by police during protests in August 2025, as part of a campaign to silence him. Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party have repeatedly denied accusations of repression and corruption; his office and the Interior Ministry did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the report.

Student candidates challenge Vučić’s party

Serbia ranked 104th of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 World Press Freedom Index, its lowest ranking, Reuters reported. The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation counted at least 182 verbal attacks by Vučić on journalists and media outlets in the first nine months of 2026. Journalist Veran Matić told Reuters that attacks against him and other journalists occurred almost every day or week. He blamed violence against him on Vučić, but Reuters said it could not verify that assertion.

Police violence and spyware allegations

Reuters said it verified video showing police beating architect Dušan Radović during a protest in Valjevo in August 2025. Radović said he could not walk without limping for two months. Forensic specialist Đorđe Alempijević reported that 25 people, including some minors, were badly beaten that night and described the injuries as a systematic pattern of punitive police violence. The Interior Ministry did not respond to Reuters’ question about the protest and the report.

Protester Jelena Kontić told Reuters that Apple warned her in March that Pegasus spyware might have been installed on her phone, and that later forensic tests, including work by Citizen Lab, confirmed an infection. Reuters also reported a Citizen Lab account of two opposition figures allegedly targeted with cyberespionage tools. Reuters could not determine who was responsible for the alleged infections. Serbia’s Security Information Agency dismissed claims of state involvement as ‘trivial sensationalism’; acting President Ana Brnabić said students had ‘absolutely not’ been spied on, and Interior Ministry officials also rejected cyberespionage allegations.