Novica Antic Sent to Central Prison on Prosecutors' Appeal

Novica Antic, the former president of the Military Trade Union of Serbia, was moved on October 23 from house arrest to detention in Belgrade’s Central Prison, his lawyer Ivan Ninic said. According to Ninic, the decision came from the Higher Court in Belgrade, which granted the prosecution’s appeal.

Ninic wrote on X in the afternoon that officers of the Criminal Police Directorate were back at Antic’s house with an order to take him into custody in Belgrade. House arrest, which had originally been imposed together with a ban on using the internet, was replaced with standard detention.

What does the Higher Court’s decision say?

According to Ninic, the amended ruling cites access to the internet and the possibility that the offense could be repeated as grounds for the stricter measure. The lawyer says the panel that decided the appeal was chaired by Judge Dragan Milosevic.

At the time of publication, neither the Higher Court nor the prosecution had issued a statement on the decision. For now, its content and reasoning are being relayed only by the lawyer and the media.

What is Antic suspected of?

Antic was arrested on October 17, when police searched his apartment. He is suspected of causing panic and disorder through social media. The trigger was a post of a video of a night-time military exercise in an urban setting, with a comment that such an exercise had last been held shortly before October 5, 2000.

Ninic says Antic shared a post from the village of Stubica stating that the military exercise had not been announced, and that he asked a question about it. Antic was also arrested in 2025 on suspicion of preparing an act against the constitutional order, and was released after an appeal.

What does the defense say?

Ninic said they were surprised by the court’s decision. Of Judge Milosevic, he said:

“For the past two years, terror has been carried out, in a situation where detention is unlawful, over a verbal offense. Under the patronage of Dragan Milosevic, I now have no doubt that the wishes of the authorities are being carried out.”

On the suspicion against his client, Ninic said: “There is no criminal offense in the acts he is charged with.”

The lawyer also pointed to the search of the family home. He says electronic devices were seized, including the phone of an eight-year-old child that held games and children’s photographs, and all of the equipment ended up with the military police. Ninic counts that search as the fourth intrusion into Antic’s home:

“The fourth raid and search serve solely to seize electronic devices and try to find anything that could serve as a pretext for creating a fictitious story about a coup.”

Ninic also said Antic is being portrayed as a potential organizer of an overthrow, although, he claims, he has neither the intention nor the capacity for it.

What happens next?

The defense has announced an appeal against the Higher Court’s decision. Ninic expressed doubt about the outcome of that proceeding. Until the Higher Court and the prosecution respond, the defense is the only side that has publicly given its version of the decision and the circumstances of the arrest, so its claims in this article are reported as the defense’s claims.