On Thursday, the European Commission expressed concern over Serbia’s treatment of citizens of Croatia and other EU members, who were detained and then deported under the pretext of posing a security risk.
“We are concerned that peaceful civil society activists from EU member states and the Western Balkans region were detained and later asked by the authorities to leave Serbia because they pose a ‘security risk’,” says the Commission’s written response to a journalist’s inquiry about the detention of five Croatian woman in Serbia.
Today, Croatia also sent a note of protest to Serbia because of five Croatian citizens who were unjustifiably arrested and then expelled from Serbia.
Croatian citizens are representatives of non-governmental organizations that participated in workshops organized by Erste Stiftung in Belgrade. Along with the expulsion, Serbia banned them from entering the country for a year, reports Hina news agency.
The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs recommended on Thursday that all non-essential trips to Serbia be postponed due to inappropriate and unfounded treatment of Croatian citizens.
The commission states that “measures taken in the interest of national security should be implemented in accordance with the Serbian legal framework and in accordance with European and international human rights standards”, and that “such measures must not result in limiting the freedoms of individuals, including foreign nationals”.
