The visit focused on the treatment of adult and juvenile patients deprived of their liberty in forensic and acute wards of several psychiatric facilities across Serbia. The CPT delegation also examined the treatment and conditions of children and young persons held in the Juvenile Educational-Correctional Facility of Kruševac, about which the CPT had been highly critical in 2023. More generally, the CPT’s delegation reviewed the measures taken by the Serbian authorities to implement the recommendations made by the Committee after its previous visits in 2021 and 2023.
In the course of the visit the delegation held consultations with Dragoljub Paunović, Assistant Minister of Health for the Department of Inspection Affairs, Jelena Janković, Assistant Minister of Health for the Department of Public Health, Snežana Trkulja, Assistant Minister of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Dejan Carević, Director of the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Olivera Matijašević Director of the Special Prison Hospital, and Aleksandra Stepanović, Head of the Department for the Exercise and Protection of the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, as well as with senior representatives from the Ministries of Health and Justice.
The delegation also met with Zoran Pašalić, Ombudsperson of Serbia and Natasa Tanjević, Deputy Ombudsperson and Head of the National Preventive Mechanism, and with several civil society bodies.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary findings to the Serbian authorities.
The visit was carried out by Kristina Pardalos (Head of Delegation) and Marie Kmecová, members of the CPT. They were supported by Francesca Gordon and Leila Zhdanova of the CPT Secretariat, and assisted by two experts: Birgit Völlm, Professor in Forensic Psychiatry, Germany and Kate Wood, medical doctor, United Kingdom.
The delegation visited the following establishments:
Establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Justice
- Kruševac Correctional and Educational Facility
- Special Prison Hospital, Belgrade
Establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Health
- Laza Lazarević Psychiatric Clinic: Belgrade and Padinska Skela sites and the Unit for Adolescents, Belgrade
- Belgrade Clinic for Neurology and Psychiatry for Children and Youth
- Kovin Special Psychiatric Hospital (targeted visit)
