Crime in Serbia

Crime in Serbia includes murder, organised crime, corruption, piracy, false bomb threats and mass shootings among others. It is combated by the Serbian police and other government agencies.

Serbian police patrol car

Crime by type

Murder

Further information: List of countries by intentional homicide rate

In 2000, Serbia had a murder rate of 2.4. This increased in 2001 when the murder rate rose to 2.6, after which the murder rate started decreasing, reaching below 2.0 in 2003.^[1] In 2012, Serbia had a murder rate of 1.2 per 100,000 population, with a total of 111 murders.^[2] In 2020, Serbia's murder rate was 1.02.^[1]

Mass shootings

 

Flowers gathered by Serbians in tribute to those killed in the Belgrade school shooting

Further information: List of massacres in Serbia

A number of mass shootings have occurred in Serbia. The first being the Paraćin massacre in 1987, where Aziz Kelmendi, a Kosovo Albanian conscript in the Yugoslav People's Army entered a military guard post and killed four soldiers and wounded five, before later being found dead from apparent suicide.^[3]

Mass shootings in Serbia continued to occur in the 1990's, 2000's, 2010's and 2020's, with each decade seeing at least two mass shootings. The deadliest, the 2013 Velika Ivanča shooting, saw 14 killed including the perpetrator.^[4]

In May 2023, two mass shootings took place in Serbia within a week, one of them being the Belgrade school shooting where nine people were killed and seven wounded, the other took place in a rural area south of Belgrade where eight people were killed and 14 wounded.^[5]

Organised crime

Main article: Serbian mafia

Serbian organized crime, sometimes called Serbian mafia (Serbian: Cpпска мафија, romanized: Srpska Mafija), comprises various criminal organisations, that are either based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs. Serbian criminals are active in the European Union (EU) countries. The organisations are primarily involved in smuggling, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, protection racket, illegal gambling, jewelry and gems theft, bodyguarding, and contract killing. The Mafia is composed of several major organised groups, which in turn have wider networks throughout primarily Europe.

The Yugoslav Wars prompted criminals a "way out" of economic disaster during the international imposed sanctions against Serbia. Serbian criminals have been recruited to state security forces, a notable example is Legija, a commander in the Arkan's Tigers which after the war was re-labeled as the JSO (Red Berets), he allegedly planned the murder of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.^[6]

In 2021, Serbia ranked 33rd in the Global Organised Crime Index, behind only Russia in terms of highest organised crime rate. According to the index, ″mafia style″ groups have significant protection by prosecutors, political figures and the media. The country was described as a place of origin, transit and destination for human trafficking, with trade also including illegal arms and drugs.^[7]

Corruption

Further information: Corruption in Serbia

Corruption levels are perceived to be high by surveyed residents of Serbia, and public trust in key institutions remains low.^[8]

Public procurement, public administration recruitment processes, mining and rail operations are sectors with a serious problem of conflict of interest.^[8] The European Commission has raised concern over Serbia's judiciary, police, health and education sectors that are particularly vulnerable to corruption.^[9] Transparency Serbia estimated in September 2016 that at least 374,000 cases of "petty corruption" in public services remain undiscovered every year.^[10] In 2022, Serbia scored 36 on Transparency International's corruption perception index, placing it at rank 101 out of 180 countries in terms of most corrupt countries in the world, meaning Serbia ranked as one of the nations with highest corruption rates in Europe.^[11]

Piracy

Piracy in Serbia increased in intensity during the 2000s and 2010s.^[12] Especially threatened is the shipping on the part of Danube between Belgrade and Smederevo.^[13] Most commonly, pirates will plunder bulk cargo such as oil, coke, metals, grains, sugar or fertilizers, but sometimes also remove cables and electric motors from the ships.^[13]

The confrontations of the pirates with the crews rarely escalate, with a single shipman murder recorded, in the late 2000s.^[13] This is, in part, because crews will often cooperate with the pirates, sell part of the cargo, then report the piracy to receive insurance money.^[14][15] Cases of cooperation of the pirates with the police have also been recorded.^[15]

The pirates will also often engage in smuggling fuel and other goods across Danube.^[14]

False bomb threats

False bomb threats are relatively common in Serbia. Since the police reacts to every bomb threat by searching the entire buildings for the possible bomb,^[16] most common targets are schools^[16] where students will phone in a threat to delay their exams, and courts^[17] where people expecting to lose a trial will phone in to delay it. Due to false bomb threats, the building of the High Court in Belgrade had to be evacuated more than 70 times in 2008^[17]

Less common targets include those as diverse as Belgrade firefighters' headquarters,^[18] a residential building^[19] or Kraljevo public library.^[20]

Frequency of the false bomb threats was reduced in 2009, after a new law specified harsher, triplified, punishments.^[19]

Rape and sexual harassment

There is a low number of official complaints of sexual harassment in Serbia, though it has been reported that only a small number of women choose to report the crime, with experts saying the way the police and courts handle such cases discourages victims coming forward. The minimum sentence for rape in Serbia is five years in prison, which is higher than in several neighbouring countries, with this minimum sentence frequently being imposed. Many of those convicted of ″illicit sexual activity″ or sexual harassment avoid jail.^[21]

References

1. "Serbia Murder/Homicide Rate 2000-2023". MacroTrends. 4 July 2023. from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
2. "Global Study on Homicide. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013". from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
3. Mertus, Julie A. (30 September 2020). "THREE. "A Shot Against Yugoslavia": The Paracin Massacre, 1987". Kosovo. University of California Press. pp. 135–164. doi:10.1525/9780520341579-009. ISBN 9780520341579. from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
4. "Gunman Kills 13 People in Serbian Village". The New York Times. 9 April 2013. from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
5. Gadzo, Mersiha (7 May 2023). "'Normalisation of violence': What led to Serbia mass shootings? - Gun Violence News". Al Jazeera. from the original on 10 May 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
6. "Organized Crime in the Western Balkans" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
7. "Serbia ranks very high on 2021 Global Organised Crime Index". www.euractiv.com. 4 October 2021. from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
8. . Global Integrity. Archived from the original on 30 April 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
9. "SERBIA 2013 PROGRESS REPORT" (PDF). European Commission. (PDF) from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
10. Transparency Serbia's Press Issue on GCB 2015. "Unreported corruption is the biggest problem, measures of the state so far without success". Transparentnost.org.rs. from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
11. "2022 Corruption Perceptions IndexExplore Serbia's results". Transparency.org. 31 January 2023. from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
12. Ilić, J. (26 September 2014). "Smederevo: Pirati haraju na Dunavu". Večernje novosti. Belgrade. from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
13. Vukasović, Vladimir (4 December 2008). "Речни "пирати" бољи трговци него пљачкаши". Politika. Belgrade. from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
14. Vukasović, Vladimir; Luković, Marko (27 May 2010). "Шверц нафте дуж Дунава и даље "национални спорт"". Politika. Belgrade. Retrieved 12 February 2015.^{[permanent dead link]}
15. Ilić, J. (16 March 2012). "Smederevo: Šverc istočio barže". Večernje novosti. Belgrade. from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
16. Vasiljević, B (29 February 2008). "Лажне "бомбашке" узбуне – опасне игре малолетника". Politika. Belgrade. Retrieved 24 December 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}
17. Tanjug (26 September 2014). "Поново лажна дојава о бомби у Палати правде". Politika. Belgrade. Retrieved 24 December 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}
18. T.M:S. (11 December 2014). "Lažna dojava o bombi u sedištu Vatrogasne brigade u Beogradu". Blic. Belgrade. from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
19. Vasiljević, B. (24 May 2011). "Закон прекида бомбашку "телефонијаду"". Politika. Belgrade. Retrieved 24 December 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}
20. Tanjug (8 November 2011). "Kraljevo: Lažna dojava o bombi u Narodnoj biblioteci". Večernje novosti. Belgrade. from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
21. Stojanovic, Milica (5 April 2021). "Victims Discouraged by 'Lenient' Sentences for Sex Crimes in Serbia". Balkan Insight. from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.