Ava Karabatic Detained Same Day She Reported Violence

Ava Karabatic was detained on the evening of Wednesday, August 12, in Belgrade, just hours after she filed a report against her fiance for violence at Rakovica police station. A misdemeanor case was opened against her for breaching Serbia’s Foreigners Law, over an unauthorized stay in the country.

Police checked her status in coordination with the Foreigners Directorate and found she had violated the rules on foreign nationals residing in Serbia. She was brought before the duty misdemeanor judge. After that proceeding, she was expected to be handed over to the Foreigners Directorate, with a notice that deportation would follow. What would actually happen to her status was not known at the time she was detained.

Karabatic is a Croatian national. She had been staying in Serbia with her partner, referred to in police records by the initials L.Z., and until that day the couple had shared an apartment in Belgrade’s Resnik neighborhood.

What Happened Before the Detention

Two days earlier, on August 10, Ava went to the Emergency Center in Belgrade with visible injuries to her face and head. She claimed at the time that her fiance had caused them and said she had suffered a fractured cheekbone and a skull fracture. The legal classification of those claims has not been established, the proceedings are ongoing, and L.Z. is reportedly facing charges before the relevant authorities based on her report.

According to Karabatic’s account, her fiance and a family friend were waiting for her outside the Emergency Center that day, and she was taken back to the apartment in Resnik. On Wednesday she left the apartment, saying she needed to go to the consulate for documents. When she reached the building on Kneza Milosa Street, she went inside and asked security staff for help.

The consulate called Savski Venac police station, and she was then taken to Rakovica, where she gave a statement and reported her partner. She spoke out from there.

Here I am at the police station in Rakovica. The day I was at the Emergency Center, a family friend was waiting for me, but so was my fiance. He tricked me into going back to Resnik, and today I ran away and went to the embassy, and there I explained what happened to me. They immediately called Savski Venac police station. They launched a search for him, because he took off somewhere.

That is how Ava Karabatic described her morning before she arrived at the station. A few hours later, in that same police procedure, her residency status in Serbia became the subject of a misdemeanor case.

Why Did Her Instagram Posts Disappear?

Karabatic says her fiance took her phone the day before she fled and deleted everything she had posted. That, she said, was why videos and photos previously reported on had vanished from her profile. In the same statement, she denied reports that she and L.Z. had reconciled.

Yesterday he took my phone and deleted everything I had posted on Instagram. I have not reconciled with him, no matter what has been written. I do not hate him, it is just that all of this… I have no words, no woman deserved this.

The denial came after reports that the two had been seen together at a cafe, meaning after her first report of violence.

The Search for Her Fiance

After her statement, police tried to reach L.Z. by phone but he did not answer. A patrol also went to the address in Resnik and did not find him there. According to Karabatic, a search has been launched for him.

Based on what is known so far, the sequence of events looks like this:

• August 10: Ava Karabatic at the Emergency Center in Belgrade, with injuries to her face and head
• August 12, morning: she leaves the apartment in Resnik and enters the building on Kneza Milosa Street
• August 12, afternoon: statement and report against her fiance at Rakovica police station
• August 12, evening: detention under the Foreigners Law and appearance before the duty misdemeanor judge

Two cases are now moving in parallel. One follows her report against her fiance, the other concerns her own residency status. The outcome of the second will decide whether she remains in Serbia while the first runs its course.