European Court Rules Criminal Investigation Flawed in Serbian Police Brutality Case
04 June 2025
Brussels, 4 June 2025: The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that an investigation into a case of police brutality against Matija Nikolić, a 17-year-old Romani boy, in 2012 was inadequate and lacked impartiality. The Court noted that the initial investigation was conducted by the Bački Petrovac Police Station, the officers of which were alleged to have ill-treated the Romani boy in the first place by beating him until he was unconscious and required hospitalisation. The Court ruled that Serbian authorities must pay the Romani applicant €1800 plus taxes as well as €2100 in costs and expenses for the legal proceedings before the Court plus any taxes due. The case was represented before the Court by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC).
“In a time of increased police violence against citizens of Serbia, this judgment comes as a stark reminder to the Constitutional Court that it should comply better with the standards of the European Convention. While primary responsibility lies with the prosecuting authorities, yet another ECtHR judgment against Serbia for failure to adequately investigate allegations of police brutality indicates that the highest judicial authority in the country repeatedly fails to protect fundamental rights of its citizens. Instead, the Constitutional Court becomes an accomplice in lack of accountability of both prosecuting authorities and police for systemic human rights violations” said the ERRC’s Legal Consultant Andrea Čolak.
The length of time that this case took (10 years) before it even reached the European Court is an indictment of the Serbian justice system. The ERRC’s legal cases and extensive research into the criminal legal system of Serbia shows that this is far from an isolated incident, but indicative of the way in which so-called ‘justice’ is handled in cases concerning Roma.
Background
On 7th February 2013, 17-year-old Matija Nikolić lodged a criminal complaint with the Novi Sad Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office, alleging that he was severely beaten on 16th November 2012 while being questioned at the Bački Petrovac Police Station about alleged thefts. He alleged that officers threatened to stab him in the stomach with scissors, racially abused him, slapped him, and beat him in the head repeatedly until he lost consciousness and fell to the ground. One officer is alleged to have kicked him in the stomach so hard that he was later hospitalised and required an operation for an incarcerated hernia.
The criminal investigation was assigned to the same police station, Bački Petrovac, whose officers were responsible for taking the statements from their colleagues accused of beating the Romani boy. On 19th April 2013, they submitted their report to the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office who, on 30th October 2015, rejected Matija Nikolić’s complaint and found the officers not guilty of a criminal offence.
After several appeals before domestic courts, the case was finally dismissed by the Constitutional Court on 17th June 2021. The case was finally lodged with the ECtHR on 1st April 2022.
The European Court’s Judgment
In it’s ruling, the European Court stated that it is not disputable that on 16th November 2012 Matija Nikolić entered Bački Petrovac Police Station in good health for police questioning, and that he later left there in an ambulance for immediate surgery. The Court notes that this fact, together with medical evidence and the detailed account of the events by Matija Nikolić, in which he claimed that he had been kicked in the stomach and hit in the head by police officers, raises at least a reasonable suspicion that his injuries could have been caused by the use of force by the police. The Court further notes that the Serbian authorities themselves must have considered his allegations serious enough to justify the opening of an investigation into his ill-treatment.
The judgment found that the initial investigation by the Bački Petrovac Police Station cannot be regarded as independent. Also, the later investigation was ruled to be flawed owing to the fact that Nikolić was only interviewed for the first time in November 2016 (more than three years and eight months after the events in the police station). The denial of procedural standing in the investigation (through his legal representative) further deprived him of the opportunity to participate in the investigative actions to the extent necessary to safeguard his legitimate interests. For these reasons, the Court found that Matija Nikolić’s right to an effective investigation had been violated by the authorities (a procedural violation of Article 3 of the Convention).
The ERRC also remains concerned with the Court’s lack of consideration for Matija Nikolić’s Romani ethnicity as well as the investigators’ complete disregard for any procedural safeguards for minors in criminal proceedings, and that the entrenched stereotypes of “Gypsy criminality” placed Nikolić in a situation inducive to police ill-treatment.
Utterly disappointing is that the Court assessed the substantive violation of Article 3 only in the context of visible bodily injuries and lack of evidence. The impact of alleged repeated slaps on the face (which don’t necessarily leave a trace), threats of stabbing the stomach with scissors, and racist insults directed against a minor were not a matter of consideration for the Court and whether that amounts to degrading treatment.
This press release is also available in Serbian.
The report Justice Denied: Roma in the Criminal Justice System of Serbia can be found here.
For more information, or to arrange an interview contact:
Jonathan Lee
Advocacy & Communications Director
European Roma Rights Centre
jonathan.lee@errc.org
+32 49 288 7679
Andrea Čolak (in Serbian)
Legal Consultant
European Roma Rights Centre
andrea.colak@errc.org
+381 64 41 39 117 (WhatsApp / Viber / Signal)
