In Srbobran, during the night, another woman, whom the neighbors had seen battered the previous day or days, was killed by her violent son.

If all the information available in the media is correct, and in particular:

• that the perpetrator was previously sentenced to prison terms twice for committing the criminal offense of domestic violence against the mother, which indicates that he committed one of the more serious forms of this criminal offense;
• that he got out of prison about 6 months ago;
• that the perpetrator and the mother he killed lived in houses next to each other, in the same yard.

All this information indicates that the woman who was killed was at high risk of being again seriously injured or killed. Therefore, the question arises as to whether and, if so, how the Coordination and Cooperation Group for the municipality of Srbobran, which was formed within the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Vrbas, acted after the perpetrator was released from prison for the second time.

The Autonomous Women's Center expresses great concern over the fact that in Vojvodina the trend of murders of women by perpetrators who were previously convicted of domestic violence perpetrated against the murdered women continues.

We also express concern over the fact that the Coordination and Cooperation Groups, which were formed in accordance with the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and are made up of representatives of the Prosecution, the Police and the Social Welfare Center, still do not recognize that women, whose perpetrators of domestic violence have been sentenced to prison terms or security measures of mandatory treatment, are at a particularly high risk after the perpetrators are released from serving the sentence or security measures of mandatory treatment. There is no information on whether the members of the Group have considered the risk to women whose abusers are released from prison and whether they have created a Protection and Support Plan to save women's lives.

We remind you that, although at least 17 women were killed in Serbia in 2024^[1], in half of the cases the perpetrators were previously reported for committing violence (8 out of 16 perpetrators), which represents a serious increase (in %) compared to previous years^[2]. We also remind you that in 2024, eight women were killed on the territory of Vojvodina, as well as that two perpetrators from the territory of Vojvodina were previously convicted by final verdicts for domestic violence that they committed against the murdered women.

All these data once again confirm that it is necessary to change the Criminal Code, not only in the domain of increasing the threatened penalties, but also:

• by introducing new measures of protective supervision (removal from the joint household and protective supervision after serving a prison sentence);
• with the amendments that the measure of prohibition of approaching and communicating with the injured party can be imposed in case the offender is imposed a safety measure of mandatory treatment in freedom;
• and that a suspended sentence for criminal acts of gender-based violence can only be imposed with a measure of protective supervision or work in the public interest.

In the meantime, we request that the Protector of Citizens and the competent Ministries immediately carry out control procedures and determine whether there were any omissions in the actions of the representatives of the competent institutions (Prosecutor's Office, Police and the Social Welfare Center). We also request the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office to determine whether and, if so, how the Group for Coordination and Cooperation, which was formed at the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Vrbas, acted after the release of the perpetrator from prison, and to inform the public about it.

Act before it's too late!

Contact person for the media:
Vanja Macanović, Autonomous Women's Center

^[1] Which, compared to the previous year, represents a significant decrease in the number of women killed in a family-partner relationship and as a consequence of committing one of the other criminal acts of gender-based violence.

^[2] In 2023 – in 4 out of 28, in 2022 – in 7 out of 24, in 2021 – in 5 out of 20, in 2020 – in 4 out of 26 cases.