Arrested Activist from Novi Sad Says He Was Beaten in Police Building

Police Officer, Novi Sad, July 1 2024 (BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC)

Ilija Kostic, a 74-year-old activist from Novi Sad who was arrested for assaulting a police officer with pepper spray during protests in front of the prosecutor's office in that city, has told the prosecutor that he was beaten while in the police building and could recognize his attackers, but that he was not sure whether they were police officers.

According to the transcript of the statement he gave to the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office, which BETA has reviewed, a total of five persons were present during the incident Kostic related.

"I was sitting in a chair. One of them hit me in the head with his hand. Another slapped me in the face, then told me to get up, and then kneed me in the groin," Kostic recounted.

According to an earlier report, after he was released to go into house arrest, Kostic had surgery at the Vojvodina Clinic Center and one of his testicles was amputated.

The Serbian Interior Ministry said in a press release on Nov. 25 that the Basic Prosecutor's Office had ordered the Internal Affairs Sector to respond to Kostic's report that he was beaten while in police custody and that the police were taking all steps to establish the facts and circumstances to determine when, where and how he was injured.

According to the Interior Ministry, he was examined by emergency service doctors while on Novi Sad Police Administration premises and they "did not note the existence of any injury, nor did I. K. complain of any health problems."