Five arrested for planning violence, unrest on election day in Serbia - prosecutor's office

BELGRADE - On orders from the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade and in coordination with the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad and the Security Information Agency, Belgrade and Novi Sad police and the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit have arrested five people in Novi Sad on suspicion of planning to commit acts of violence, unrest and attacks on dissenters and police on election day in Serbia, October 25, with the aim of jeopardising the constitutional order and security in the country.

In a statement released by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade on Wednesday, the arrestees were identified as M V, aged 28, D J, aged 28, D S, aged 27, D L, aged 28, and M I, aged 28.

They are accused of co-perpetration in the commission of the criminal offences of preparing acts against the constitutional order and security in Serbia and calling for a violent overthrow of the constitutional order.

The members of the group are suspected of calling for, and instigating, a violent overthrow of top state authorities and of making preparations for the commission of the criminal offence, of obtaining the means for its commission, as well as of making agreements and plans for immediate commission of the criminal offence and of creating the conditions for doing so.

They are suspected of recruiting others in their immediate environment for election-day clashes in Belgrade, the statement said.

The suspects, led by M V, intended to come to Belgrade, with mobile teams assembled under a "Security Protocol for Mobile Teams", to take part in a violent overthrow of the constitutional order and top state authorities, it said, adding that the preparation of the "Security Protocol" had been organised by a so-called "Security Group".

Operating outside the legal framework, the mobile teams were to use weapons and arms to attack dissenters and police officers.

The means for committing the criminal offences - balaclavas, poles, flares, knives and weapons - were to be provided by the group, led by M V.

Under the group's plan, M V was to have some 40 people under his command and would be joined by other groups so, according to his own estimate, the number of people at his disposal would total 80 to 90.

The suspects have been placed in 48-hour detention, during which time they are to appear before prosecutors at the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade for a hearing, the statement also said.