Serbian authorities detained nine active police officers and one former officer for allegedly using excessive force against detainees during last year’s anti-corruption protests in Belgrade, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Straits Times.

The Interior Ministry said the suspects, from an elite unit, tortured and intimidated people detained in the garage of a government compound in downtown Belgrade on August 14-15, 2025. According to the statement, by using force and threats they inflicted great pain and severe suffering on a larger number of people to obtain information from them and to intimidate and unlawfully punish them. These were the first major arrests in connection with violence against the protesters who took to the streets over the past two years, and the ministry released only the detainees’ initials. The protests swept the country, a candidate for European Union (EU) membership, in 2025 and 2026, after 16 people died when a concrete canopy collapsed at a renovated railway station in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024.