The Human Rights House Belgrade, the Human Rights House Banja Luka, the Human Rights House Zagreb and the Sarajevo Open Center, gathered in a joint Regional Network, strongly condemn the raid by the armed police of the Republic of Serbia into the offices of the member organization, the Human Rights House Belgrade, without an appropriate court order.
The aim of this action is nothing more than to intimidate human rights organizations and repress citizens who critically question the work of the government and advocate for democratization, the rule of law and human rights. This is yet another example of the regime’s abuse of the police for political purposes. If the real intention of the state was to check financial transactions, then this check would be carried out in a procedure conducted by the competent financial institutions, and not in a media spectacl in which dozens of armed police officers intrude the offices of civil society organizations.
This kind of behavior is unacceptable in a democratic society and is completely contrary to the European values that Serbia, as a candidate country for EU membership, should respect and protect. We therefore call on European institutions, primarily the European Commission and Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, but also EU member states, to react immediately and express unambiguous political condemnation of this act of political retaliation and the use of the police to intimidate dissenters. This is not the way the police of a country that wants to become part of the European Union should behave.
