The higher public prosecutor's office announced that "seven people pleaded guilty" to the riots in front of the Belgrade City Assembly on December 24, when the opposition list Serbia Against Violence tried to occupy that building and declare victory in the local elections for the Serbian capital.
Later on the proposal of the prosecution, the court then ordered detention up to 30 days for four suspects, house arrest was ordered for six, while one person was released and sent home.
The opposition accuses the government of falsifying the results, demands new elections and that the police exceeded the force and that the demonstrators were arrested illegally.
The Prosecutor's Office requested custody for 11 suspects and added that they are all charged with violent behavior at public gatherings and violently calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order.
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What did the High Court decide?
The Prosecutor's Office first announced that after questioning the seven suspects, they admitted their guilt for rioting in front of the Belgrade City Assembly and concluded an agreement on the recognition of criminal offenses to suspended prison terms and fines.
The four suspects, the oldest of whom is 68 years old, and the youngest 32 years old, concluded agreements on the recognition of the criminal offense of violent behavior at a sports event in a public meeting in conjunction with the criminal offense of calling for a violent change of the constitutional order to conditional prison sentences of six months with a probationary period of two years and a fine of 20.000 dinars.
The three suspects, who are 18, 23 and 48 years old, concluded agreements on the recognition of the criminal offense of violent behavior at a sports event and a public meeting, to suspended prison sentences of three months with a probationary period of one year and fines of 20.000 and 10.000 dinars.
Two suspects, aged 19 and 37, were released.
The Prosecutor's Office asked for detention for 11 people, and the High Court then ordered detention for up to 30 days for four suspects, six will be under house arrest, and one person has been released.
Detention, which can last up to 30 days, was imposed on people who are 26, 39, 54 and 58 years old due to, as explained, "the existence of special circumstances that indicate that they will repeat the criminal offense in a short period of time".
Opposition protest: "Free them all"
The decision of the High Court was preceded by a protest of the opposition list Serbia against violence in front of the Palace of Justice on Tuesday evening, whose leaders demanded that all those arrested at the protests be released.
"Let them all go," echoed outside the main court building in Belgrade during the ninth protest by supporters of the opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence, which accused the government of theft and demanded the annulment of the results in Belgrade.
The leaders of the opposition coalition claim that they were illegally arrested.
The day before, they were in front of the Police Department in Belgrade demanding information about the arrested, which they did not receive.
This opposition bloc claims that the government allegedly changed the voting results for the Belgrade City Assembly, demanding the annulment of all the elections held on December 17.
The authorities deny all claims and demand concrete evidence from the opposition about the alleged manipulation of election results and say that these were "the cleanest and fairest elections so far".
Domestic and international observers reported "irregularities" during the election process, such as vote buying and bringing voters from abroad to vote in local elections.
Since the election night, the opposition coalition Serbia against violence has been organizing protests in Belgrade, and the most serious incidents were recorded on Sunday, December 24, when, at the invitation of the leader of this bloc, demonstrators tried to forcefully enter the building of the Belgrade City Assembly, a historic building built in 1884.
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Marinika Tepić, one of the leaders of the coalition that has been on hunger strike for days in the building of the main electoral body, in the immediate vicinity of the Belgrade Assembly, called on supporters to come to the protests as long as they are arrested in prison.
A little later, MP Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta called on President Aleksandar Vučić to release all those arrested in a video message published on YouTube.
"I am the one who called the people to a gathering on Sunday evening... who tried to enter the city assembly," said Jovanović.
A new protest is scheduled for 18:XNUMX in front of the building of the Republican Election Commission in the center of Belgrade.
Another opposition coalition - NADA - led by the New Democratic Party of Serbia, joined the request for a repeat of the elections in Belgrade.
The presidency of Nova DSS announced that it considers the results of the elections in Belgrade "illegitimate due to the massive abuse of the right to residence" and that they must therefore be repeated, with a refined voter list and equality in media representation, reports Fonet.
According to preliminary results, the NADA coalition won about six percent of the votes in the elections for the Belgrade City Assembly, which would bring it seven mandates.
However, according to the same results, Serbia against violence and NADA together would have 49 councilors, which is insufficient for the majority in the Assembly of the City of Belgrade, which has 110 seats.
What are the preliminary election results?
Prema official data of electoral authorities, the ruling SNS won nearly 47 percent of the votes or 1.779.218 in the elections for the Assembly of Serbia, and the opposition list Serbia against violence 23,7 percent or 902.664.
SNS also has an advantage in the elections for the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, as well as in most cities and municipalities, including in Belgrade.
As expected, there was more uncertainty surrounding the elections for the Belgrade City Assembly - a total of 110 council seats - and no list has a majority or can form a government on its own.
Prema preliminary results, SNS won 341.992 votes, or 39,35 percent of votes (49 mandates), and the opposition list Serbia against violence 297.751 votes or 34,26 percent (42 mandates).
Together with the Socialist Party of Serbia, the previous coalition partner, which has six mandates, the SNS would have 55 mandates and they would lack one councilor for a narrow majority.
If Serbia against violence were to make a post-election agreement, together with another opposition list, the Nada coalition, which received seven mandates, would have a total of 49 councilors.
The tip of the scales could be the "We - Voice from the People" coalition led by Dr. Branimir Nestorović, the unexpected winner of the Belgrade elections, because it won six mandates.
However, from that movement, they repeated once again that they will not join any coalitions - more about their position read in a separate text.
More about who Nestorović is and his coalition read in a separate text.
Representatives of SNS did not rule out the possibility of new Belgrade elections, if Nestorović's list maintains its stance of not supporting either party.
Due to the debacle in the elections, both in the republic and in Belgrade, they submitted their resignations to the positions of party presidents Bosko Obradovic from Dvera and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Vuk Jeremić from the People's Party.
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