Statement Regarding the Arrest and Ban on Entry into the Country of Our Colleagues from Neighboring Countries

23 Jan Statement Regarding the Arrest and Ban on Entry into the Country of Our Colleagues from Neighboring Countries

On Tuesday, January 21st, in Belgrade, plainclothes police arrested several individuals, citizens of Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Romania, and Albania, at a hotel in Belgrade and took them in an unmarked car to the Police Station in New Belgrade. All of them are workers in the civil society sector, including our colleague from the WHW organization in Zagreb, who works in contemporary art. They came to our country to participate in the Erste Stiftung NGO Academy program held recently in Belgrade.

They were detained at the police station for several hours. During that time, they were questioned about their education, the universities they attended, and the reasons for their visit to Belgrade. Afterward, they received a document in our language written in Cyrillic script that they were forced to sign, even though most did not understand a word of its content. The colleagues from Croatia emphasized that the police translated the document upon their request. However, the document, i.e., the resolution stated that it was issued “with the opinion of the state authority responsible for security protection in the Republic of Serbia, which determined that the stay of the named citizen represents an unacceptable security risk in the Republic of Serbia.”

With the same resolution, the detainees were given twenty-four hours to leave Serbia and were banned from entering our country for the next year.

We, the undersigned, call on the public to interpret this event as a signal that it can no longer be tolerant of such actions by the authorities and to see in this act proof of their panic under the pressure of widespread social rebellion. The cowardly, illegal, and despicable treatment of our colleagues from the civil sector in neighboring countries is a dangerous attempt to strengthen the narrative about foreign agents, mercenaries, and secret services whose intent is to intimidate the citizens of Serbia.

As a community of free and solidarity-minded workers in culture, we send a message to all our colleagues around the world, especially our neighbors, that we will do everything in our power to ensure this never happens again. We refuse to accept that the noblest values – cooperation, respect, solidarity, and tolerance – which we promote together with a vast number of colleagues from the region, are discriminated against, punished, or sanctioned, while our guests, collaborators, and friends are detained, harassed, and expelled from our country without any reason or explanation. We have had enough of the victims and traumas caused by the war-mongering nationalist policies of the same authorities that have shamed us in the region and the world throughout the entire nineties and during these last thirteen years.

We demand that the state of Serbia apologize to all detained colleagues and their countries and immediately annul the disgraceful decisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.

The Association Independent Cultural Scene of Serbia and its members:

Station Service for Contemporary Dance

BazaArt

Jednostavno rečeno

Kiosk

Karkatag Collective

Praktikabl Organization

Art Association UA Zrenjanin

Creative Mentorship

Fakiri sa Juga

Eho Animato

Novi optimizam (New Optimism)

Satibara

BUNT Belgrade Artistic New Territory

Association Prostor

Tačka komunikacije

Krokodil

Kulturis

Svetlost Orchestra

Knjigoskop

Hop.La!

Pobunjene čitateljke

Beldocs – International Documentary Film Festival

Multimedia Center Led Art

Kontekst

Auropolis

CESK Center for Empirical Studies of Culture in Southeast Europe

ArteQ

LICEULICE

Omen Theatre

KAO Parnas

Theatre Patos

Studio 6 – Collective for the Promotion of Contemporary Music

Association Zabuna

Circusfera

TV Krpelj

POD Theatre

Cultural Center Rex

Studio for Multimedia Art

Tri Groša

Svet stripa (Comic World)

Sklopka

Kuda.org

Village Cultural Center Markovac

Gifest

Other cultural organizations:

Remont NUA

Mikser

Center for Cultural Decontamination

Art Space U10

Stereovizija

International Association of Art Critics AICA – Serbia Section

Center “Živeti uspravno”

Per.Art

Organizations supporting the initiative:

Civic Initiatives

Jelena Šantić Foundation

Autonomous Women’s Center

Youth Initiative for Human Rights

Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia

Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation

CRTA

Belgrade Center for Security Policy

Center for Contemporary Politics

Belgrade Center for Human Rights

Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights (YUCOM)

SHARE Foundation

DUGA

Partners Serbia

KUPEK

Initiative A11

Center Živeti uspravno