Based on the Report of the Protector of Citizens in the case of the actions of the institutions after the murder of a woman in Pirot, the Autonomous Women's Center filed criminal charges against the judges of the Basic Court in Pirot and the prosecutors of the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Pirot, due to the suspicion that they had committed the criminal offense of negligent work in the service referred to in Art. 361 of the Criminal Code.
“The Serbian public is following with great expectations and even more worry what is going on in the education system because this is a system that focuses on children and youth and is key in securing prosperity, stability and improvement in society. For years now we have witnessed the neglect of education as a foundation of social value. This has lead to the collapse of the quality of education and lack of trust in the educational system. The events of May 3rd represent a red alarm for the educational system. That alarm also went off on June 6th when the school year was cut short with no explanation and no thought given to the consequences. It’s still an open question of how exactly the approaching school year will start and how it will play out”. The Autonomous Women’s Center has signed an Open Letter with requests to the government and Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia.
We are witnessing an act of extreme violence against the institution of the National Parliament seeing as the decision of MPs was changed without a vote, and all in the aim of stopping the work of the Commission set up after the heinous crimes of May 3rd and then May 4th, that is, so that the government would evade political responsibility for the aforementioned explosion of violence. The Commission’s work would have inevitable increased the visibility of the government’s responsibility. The Autonomous Women’s Center signed on to the press release of the Associations of Citizens’ Network, journalists, and media against violence.
We demand the immediate replacement of the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self Government, Aleksandar Martinovic, as the only acceptable and civilized result of the scandalous statements he made at the National Parliament when he egregiously insulted Serbian citizens. Employing fascist rhetoric and dehumanizing political adversaries Martinovic called on discrimination of a large number of citizens (contrary to the Constitution and all laws of the Republic of Serbia), noting that those who do not have children are not equally valuable and cannot have the same rights as those who are parents.
On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, the Autonomous Women's Center held an online expert meeting on The needs and rights of minor children and other family members after femicide. That is the second expert meeting intended for women's civil society organizations within the Strong Resistance Movement of women human rights defenders for protecting women victims/survivors of gender-based violence and their children project, funded by the European Union. Forty-six representatives of women's organizations from the countries of the Western Balkans and the European Union attended the meeting.
In Serbia, femicide isn’t defined as a criminal act all on its own, so the courts don’t keep any statistics on it. More than half of the femicide cases analyzed were not qualified as first degree murder and therefore more lenient sentences were given out.
In the first six months of last year there have been two mass murders where more than ten children, eight youths and adults have been murdered, and where at least 17 women, two girls and two boys have been murdered in a family-partner context, but the government has not found it fitting to support any projects aimed at providing free legal aid, and support to victims of criminal offences. The government gave out half a billion dinars of money gathered through fees collected from those paying for the principle of opportunity (delay of filing criminal charges).
The High Prosecutorial Office made a decision on June 19th 2023 about the selection of public prosecutors and with it undermined the already achieved level of protection afforded to victims of violence in Belgrade, which is especially worrisome considering the context and timing when it’s taking place.
The Network of associations of citizens, journalists and media against violence, which supports the demands of the civil protest "Serbia against violence", reminds the Minister of the Interior, Bratislav Gašić, and the director of the Security and Information Agency, Aleksandar Vulin, of the demands of citizens to resign and thus open up space for the reform of the security system that is captured by party interests does not stand in the way of widespread violence. The Autonomous Women's Center is a signatory to the statement.
At a meeting of the Administrative Board of the Press Council an AWC Coordinator, Sanja Pavlovic, was selected to be a member of the Complaints Commission as a public representative for the coming four year period.
