Spens attack in Novi Sad: two suspects detained
Novi Sad prosecutors ordered up to 48 hours of detention for K. S. and V. S. (both born 1995) over the October 28 attack. A third attacker is being sought.
The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad on October 31 ordered detention of up to 48 hours for two men suspected of an attack on the plateau outside the Spens sports and business center, which took place on October 28. According to the prosecutors’ statement, three people carried out the attack, and the third is the subject of an intensive search.
What do prosecutors say about the attack at Spens?
Prosecutors say that evening one person was severely beaten by several attackers and suffered bodily injuries in full view of a number of passersby. That, the statement adds, seriously disturbed public order and peace.
Detention was ordered for suspects K. S. and V. S., both born in 1995. The prosecutors’ statement set out the grounds and the next steps:
On the prosecutor’s order, detention of 48 hours has been ordered for suspects K.S. (1995) and V.S. (1995) on grounds of suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of violent behavior under Article 344, paragraph 2, in conjunction with paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, in co-perpetration with another person who is being intensively sought. Within the stated period the suspects will be brought before the public prosecutor in charge for questioning.
The two are suspected of violent behavior, and no decision on their guilt has been made. Dnevnik, citing the Novi Sad Police Department, reports that the attackers knocked the young man to the ground and then hit him repeatedly with their hands and feet. That paper gives the initials in reverse order (S. V. and S. K.) and writes that both men are from Novi Sad.
What happened outside Spens on October 28?
The portal Moj Novi Sad reported that evening, at around 8 p.m., that members of the police intervention unit, armed with long-barreled weapons, detained several young men outside Spens. Plainclothes inspectors were also at the scene. The reason for the intervention was not officially known at the time.
Unofficially, according to that portal, the arrests followed a brawl in which N. S. (born 1999) suffered head injuries, and according to eyewitnesses one of the young men had a knife. The prosecutors’ statement mentions neither a knife nor the identity of the injured man.
What does Miran Pogacar claim, and what is known about the pardon?
Miran Pogacar, a councilor from the Bravo Civic Movement, posted on social media that one of the detained men is a “pardoned thug.” According to his post, this is a person from Sremski Karlovci who took part in the attack on students in Novi Sad on the night between January 27 and 28, 2025, when a student at the Academy of Arts had her jaw broken. After that attack, then Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric resigned.
A 2025 pardon does exist in court records: then President Aleksandar Vucic pardoned four suspects in that attack in 2025. The Basic Court in Novi Sad told the newspaper Danas at the time:
On July 2, 2025, the Ministry of Justice delivered to the Basic Court in Novi Sad the decision of the President of the Republic of Serbia on pardon KPRS number 106 of July 2, 2025, by which the defendant K.S. (30) from Sremski Karlovci was released from criminal prosecution for the offenses of grievous bodily harm and violent behavior.
The initials in that decision match those of one of the men now detained, but prosecutors have not confirmed that it is the same person. The opposition also claims that one of the detained men is a member of the SNS, which none of the available sources confirms.
What happens next?
The suspects must be brought before the public prosecutor in charge within 48 hours, when they will be questioned. Police are still searching for the third person. Prosecutors give 1995 as the birth year of both men, which makes them 31 years old. Prosecutors did not state where the detained men live, and Dnevnik describes them as residents of Novi Sad.
