Belgrade Higher Court Delays June 28 Protest Trial Again

Belgrade’s Higher Court postponed, for a second time, the trial of nine defendants charged with preparing to commit a criminal act against the constitutional order and security of Serbia, tied to the offense of calling for a violent change of the constitutional order. The hearing took place on September 11, 2026. No new date was set; the court said one would be determined later.

The postponement is procedural. By the day of the hearing, the Appellate Court in Belgrade had not yet ruled on an appeal filed by the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade against the trial court’s earlier decision to exclude part of the evidence gathered through secret surveillance measures. Until that appeal is resolved, the case cannot move forward.

What the court excluded from the case file

At the previous hearing, the judge ruled to exclude from the case file all material obtained through secret surveillance measures, along with the court orders that had authorized that surveillance in the first place. Several defense lawyers had requested the exclusion, arguing the evidence, in their view, had not been obtained in line with the Criminal Procedure Code. The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade appealed that ruling, and it is this appeal that is now pending before the Appellate Court.

The same issue has already stalled the case once before. Opening statements were delivered on May 15, 2026, and a hearing scheduled for June 15 was pushed to September 11, the very date on which the trial has now been postponed for the second time.

Nine names on the indictment

The defendants are Luka Stevanovic of Kragujevac, Bojo Bojovic of Belgrade, Lazar Stojanovic of Zajecar, Ivana Milenkovic of Smederevo, Dusan Sekulic of Belgrade, Dimitrije Stefanovic of Nis, Dimitrije Dimic of Nis, Nikola Popovic of Apatin, and Luka Davidovic of Valjevo. All nine pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial, while the prosecution has stood by the indictment.

The indictment accuses the group of preparing, by prior agreement, to commit a criminal act against the constitutional order on June 20 and June 24, and of organizing calls for a violent change of the constitutional order and the overthrow of the country’s highest state bodies, at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. According to the prosecution, the group coordinated activities planned for the June 28, 2025 protest, including blockades at multiple locations and steps meant to provoke a police response.

That protest was organized by student groups involved in the blockades. According to the indictment, it was followed by clashes between gathered citizens and police at several locations in Belgrade: officers were attacked with clubs, metal bars and stones, people were injured, and public order was disrupted on a large scale. The nine defendants were arrested in the aftermath of that protest.

The defense disputes the indictment’s claims, arguing they are not backed by evidence, and also challenges the legal classification of the offenses the defendants are charged with.

For Stevanovic and Dimic, prosecutors have requested prison sentences of no less than ten months. For the remaining seven, Bojo Bojovic, Lazar Stojanovic, Ivana Milenkovic, Dusan Sekulic, Dimitrije Stefanovic, Nikola Popovic and Luka Davidovic, prosecutors have requested suspended sentences of the same length, with a three-year probation period.

What’s next

A new hearing date will only be set once the Appellate Court in Belgrade rules on the prosecution’s appeal against the exclusion of the evidence obtained through secret surveillance. Until that ruling comes down, the case against the nine defendants remains exactly where it stood over the summer: the indictment unchanged, and the fate of the disputed evidence in the hands of the appellate court.