Serbia: ERRC calls for action after violent police arrest leaves Romani basketball player with a broken arm
12 August 2025
The ERRC filed a complaint with the equality commissioner after a Romani man had his arm broken by police in the town of Valjevo in Western Serbia. Dragan Vasić, a twenty-five-year-old former Metalac basketball player and talent scout, sustained the serious injury during a police arrest for an unpaid traffic ticket. Vasić was accosted by the officers as he left his family home and presented with a warrant. As is common practice, he offered to pay the fine on the spot, but the police were having none of it.
The officers insisted on taking him into custody, and subjected him to a body search. Vasić agreed to go with them, and asked them not to handcuff him as he was voluntarily complying with them. They ignored this request, violently handcuffed him, struck him and broke his arm in the process. Following this sequence of events, the victim’s lawyer Nenad Pirgić stated, “Dragan is over two meters tall, he is an athlete and an extremely strong young man, and the question arises, how much force must have been applied to break such a man's arm?”
Pirgić, explained that Vasić was not instructed about his rights by the police who immediately tried to take him into custody by force. He accused the police of using excessive force, explained that the rules obliged the police to first request the person go voluntarily, and not that physical force be deployed immediately; and that according to the law, police officers must act according to the principle of proportionality. Pirgić stated, “The question arises whether the fine of 10,000 dinars for a traffic violation - for not wearing a seat belt, justified the use of force that led to serious bodily injury and a broken arm.”
According to Pirgić, the brutality continued even after his arm was broken. When the realized his injury was serious, they called the Emergency Service, but still handcuffed his broken arm behind his back, putting him in excruciating pain all the way to the Emergency Centre. "The handcuffs were removed only when the doctor at the Emergency Center requested it, which indicates continuous abuse," according to the lawyer, who also raised the question as to whether the violence against Dragan Vasić was racially motivated.
In their complaint to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, the ERRC and Vojvodina Roma Center Citizens' Association stated that police officers who inflict serious bodily harm may be liable for criminal offenses under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia, such as: violation of equality (Article 128), abuse and torture (Article 137), racial and other discrimination (Article 387), abuse of official position (Article 359).
Dragan Gračanin from the Center for Roma Integration in Valjevo, who described Vasić as a civic-minded volunteer and a role model for youngsters in the town is demanding accountability “because police brutality against Roma is becoming endemic. Violence against Roma is present, although often invisible, because it happens to people who are easy to scare. The fear of revenge is always present.” He appealed to the prosecutor's office to take over this case urgently, and to the police to take the necessary measures, stating, “We do not want to live in a city where we do not feel safe from those who they should serve us. We want to prevent anti-Gypsyism and ensure that such things are sanctioned.”
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