Belgrade, 3/4/2026
Public Statement
CALL FOR THE CESSATION OF THE POLITICAL PERSECUTION OF ATTORNEY STOJKOVIC
GROUP 46 of the Forum for Security and Democracy calls for the immediate cessation of all criminal proceedings against attorney Čedomir Stojković and for his release.
G46 points out the case of Cedomir Stojkovic lays bare the first “friuts” of the so-called Mrdic Laws which expanded the competences of the Higher Prosecutors’ Office in Belgrade regarding which there were justifiable fears of abuse aimed at political dissenters in the open war against the constitutional right to the freedom of thought and expression, who’s defense is the main and continuing objective of the Group 46.
G46 warns that individuals and organizations that fight for the protection of civil liberties in a democratic society cannot and must not remain indifferent to this war against free speech that the government leads through the Higher Prosecutors’ Office in Belgrade, and who’s newest political casualty is attorney Cedomir Stojkovic.
G46 emphasizes that the case of attorney Cedomir Stojkovic, due to its significance, as well as because of the liberties that are at stake in his case, calls for a wider social and political mobilization which is needed in cases as significant as this one in order to exert the public pressure needed for the protection of these fundamental rights and liberties.
G46 calls on all citizens who believe that the law in a democracy must not represent a rubber stamp for the arbitrary denial of civil liberties – especially the freedom of thought and expression – to join this appeal for the cessation of the political persecution of attorney Cedomir Stojkovic and reminds that as citizens we will only be as free as much as we are ready to defend those same rights and freedoms of another.