{"id":"SRB-073","notes":"ANALYTICALLY IMPORTANT: explicitly political legislative activation. Proposal notes penal changes made \"at the request of the President\" — direct presidential authorization of legislative operationalization. Five distinct attack vectors in single legislation: (1) protest criminalization; (2) social media liability; (3) whistleblower protection removal; (4) tabloid legal protection; (5) court commentary criminalization. The \"like\" criminalization mechanism is particularly significant — creates chilling effect on social media engagement with protest content without requiring any formal charge. Article 54 of Serbian Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly — GI: these amendments violate the Constitution. ECHR Article 11 also directly implicated. Cross-ref SRB-CAMP-006 (Feb 2025 raids on same organizations now threatened with criminal liability for road blockades). Status: consultation ended October 1 2025 — adoption status TBC.","country":"Serbia","sources":[{"url":null,"citation":"Građanske inicijative statement September 15 2025 (gi.org.rs); Istinomer/Mihaela Šljukić \"Svaki lajk i blokada puta mogu postati krivično delo\" September 22 2025; CINGO Second Report on Serbia September 2025 (confirms 20-day consultation and CSO concerns about rushed process)"}],"summary":"Ministry of Justice (Minister Nenad Vujić) proposes amendments to Criminal Code — public consultation September 15 to October 1 2025 (20-day window, criticized as insufficient by CSOs). Key provisions directly targeting protest movement and civil society: (1) Article 290 amended — road blockades criminalized as standalone offense with up to one year imprisonment. Previous version required actual endangerment of life, body, or major property. New version removes this condition — any protest blockade of any street becomes criminal offense regardless of actual risk. (2) Publishing material advising commission of crimes against constitutional order — criminalized, including anyone who \"knowingly accesses such material.\" A social media \"like\" on a post calling for a protest could constitute criminal evidence of knowingly accessing material against the constitutional order. Law professor Vanja Bajović (Belgrade Law Faculty): \"Your like is evidence that you knowingly accessed that material. There is a danger that citizens will out of fear avoid sharing content critical of the government. This would be a dangerous step toward criminalization of political and social dissent.\" (3) Recording conversations without consent criminalized — even recording your own conversation becomes criminal. Recordings without prior consent of all parties inadmissible as evidence — effectively protecting corrupt officials from whistleblowers. (4) New protection for tabloid media — intent requirement added for personal/family privacy violations, making it harder for victims of media smear campaigns to obtain justice. (5) Public commentary on final verdicts criminalized — expressing doubt about a final court decision becomes criminal offense. Građanske inicijative: \"This is serious and dangerous precedent — the regime creates legal basis for settling scores with students and citizens who have been peacefully protesting for almost a year.\" Minister Vujić claims amendments have nothing to do with current situation. Legal basis in proposal explicitly states changes made due to \"needs of practice\" — GI: this proves amendments target suppression of legitimate right to freedom of assembly.","tactics":[{"code":"TC-18","role":"primary","label":"Legislative Operationalization","needs_review":false},{"code":"TC-39","role":"secondary","label":"Mass Criminalization of Protest and Civic Mobilization","needs_review":false}],"version":1,"channels":["Official/Regulatory"],"entities":[{"id":975,"name":"Ministry of Justice; Minister Nenad Vujić; Government of Serbia; Aleksandar Vučić (proposal notes changes made \"at the request of the President\")","role":"actor","entity_type":"Government Official"},{"id":976,"name":"Student protest movement; civil society organizations; citizens exercising right to protest; Građanske inicijative (named in primary source response)","role":"target","entity_type":"Sector"}],"date_text":"15/09/2025","created_at":"2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00","escalation":4,"harm_track":"Track 1 — Legal/Administrative","narratives":[{"code":"NF-06","role":"primary","label":"Destabilization Agent","needs_review":false},{"code":"NF-09","role":"secondary","label":"Political Interference","needs_review":false}],"report_ids":[],"signal_ids":["SIG-SRB-073"],"updated_at":"2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00","occurred_on":"2025-09-15","campaign_ids":["SRB-CAMP-003"],"enabler_type":"","response_ids":[],"trigger_type":"TR-02: Civic Mobilization","campaign_phase":"Phase 4: Institutional Operationalization","civic_response":"Građanske inicijative public warning September 15 2025; Law professor Vanja Bajović (Belgrade Law Faculty) documents unconstitutionality in Istinomer; CINGO second report (Sep 2025) flags 20-day consultation as insufficient; multiple CSOs demand withdrawal of proposal","date_precision":"day","enabler_status":"","campaigns_served":[],"consequence_category":"Legal/Administrative","institutional_consequence":"Road blockades criminalized as standalone offense — any protest blockade punishable by up to 1 year imprisonment; social media engagement with protest content potentially criminal; whistleblower recordings inadmissible; tabloid smear campaigns legally protected; public court criticism criminalized"}