Marija Vasić, professor of sociology at the "Jovan Jovanović Zmaj" high school in Novi Sad, is a terrorist who, together with a group of accomplices, wants to violently overthrow the constitutional order of Serbia. This is what the Prosecutor's Office assessed, and the Court accepted the indictment based on an illegally recorded conversation between twelve activists of the Movement of Free Citizens and the informal student group STAV in the PSG premises in Novi Sad before the large protest in Belgrade on March 15. Marija was arrested with five other "accomplices" and has been in prison ever since, and a warrant has been issued for the other six accused.
After two months, the well-known Novi Sad anti-fascist went on hunger and thirst strike and refused medical help. On Thursday morning, she was rushed to the hospital after she fell unconscious, her son said. She demands that she be released from illegal detention and says that "she will protest against it with her life", because "she does not ask for mercy, nor would she give it to them", the Mašina portal reported.
"Professor Marija Vasić CANNOT stand on her feet since this morning. She has been on hunger and thirst strike for more than 45 hours. The blockade of the court will last until the activists are released. NOVISADIANS, ALL IN FRONT OF THE VTJ. URGENT!!!", students of the Novi Sad Faculty of Medicine announced on platform X during the blockade.
Denial of visitation rights
"Marija is determined to push the hunger and thirst strike to the end," her husband, David Trnavac, told Vreme. He is worried because he knows her, he knows her determination to see things through.
He says that she had a fever, and that they have denied him the right to visit her for two months. Judge Tatjana Đurašković asked him to waive his right to testify, but in the meantime the case was taken over by another judge, so he should finally be able to see Maria.
He says that the indictment for terrorism and overthrowing the constitutional order is "crazy", as if it were some kind of joke.
The conditions in the prison are, as far as he knows, "correct", Maria is in a "good" cell, which means that there are no bed bugs in her, with a good mattress and pillow. There are problems with hot water and showering, so the prisoners manage with water from jugs.
"Let my friend defend herself from freedom"
Marija Vasić has been working as a professor of sociology at Jova's high school for more than twenty years. She is known for her anti-fascist views, the study of the Holocaust and the Novi Sad raid, about which she published the books "When God Turns a Blind Eye" and "Letter on the Rails".
"Marija was always there for everyone in Novi Sad. With everyone who experienced injustice or went through some difficult moments: for students, for parents, for refugees, for the poor, for those thrown out of their apartments, for the sick... for everyone. That's why this injustice causes both pain and anger," her godmother, political consultant from Ljubljana, Tijana Arih, told "Vreme".
He describes Maria as a person with an attitude who always expresses her opinion loudly, and she says that being in detention for two months is "very painful, unfair, terrible" and that it "exceeds all limits of humanity and dignity.
She is very worried that Maria went on a hunger and thirst strike, that it could have consequences for her health, and she does not understand why she and the other 11 arrested under the same indictment are not at least put under house arrest, when the state still assesses that they are the greatest danger to the system.
"The only political prisoners in Europe are right in my hometown, and even the latest Report of the European Parliament on Serbia under point 31 called for their release," says Tijana Arich.
That decision is not legally binding, but politically as it is, she believes, and that we as a people "have to mature, to fight for a normal state where someone's voiced opinion will not be condemned with the worst punishments".
She indicates that not a single plan, weapon or anything similar was found that could have been used to carry out the alleged terrorist attack, which would support the indictment.
"I am appealing and begging the authorities to release my friend, to allow her to prove her innocence from freedom, at least with a knee brace and under house arrest, I am asking for the minimum minimum," says Tijana Arich
Because something has to change.
Marija Vasić in the prison hospital
During the day, there were doubts about Marija Vasić's whereabouts. Her lawyer stated that the family and lawyers do not yet know exactly where she is.
"According to the information we currently have, Marija is not in the prison hospital of the Central Prison in Belgrade. I submitted an electronic submission to the High Court in Novi Sad with a request to be informed of the whereabouts of my client, but I did not receive an answer. Maria's son Milan was in front of the prison hospital in Belgrade, but they told him that she was not there. None of us know where Marija Vasić is and what her current state of health is," Petrović said.
Then the Citizens' Protector Zoran Pašalić removed all doubts and confirmed that Marija Vasić was transferred to the Special Prison Hospital in Belgrade.
Before that, the family was constantly trying to find out where Vasić was, so they contacted the Clinical Center of Vojvodina, from where the PR of this institution told them, as reported by the lawyer for N1, that she was not there either.
According to the lawyer, the son decided to report the case to the MUP.
Student's letter: We may forget the material, but not your personal example of courage, struggle and perseverance
Professor Marija Vasić's students sent her an open letter in which they expressed their admiration and gave her a grade of five.
"Dear professor, the high school is locked, just like you. Ćaci only reached the entrance and his trail slowly fades on the gatepost. Ćaci is not allowed in our high school because no one taught him to critically consider reality, to think about social causes and consequences, that there are social patterns of behavior, which are constantly repeated, he has no idea that there is a science that can understand, explain and predict social phenomena," says, among other things, in the open letter of the student to professor Marija Vasić, which was published on Instagram.
The European Parliament demanded the release of the activists
The European Parliament, in the Resolution it adopted a few days ago, requested the release from detention of opposition and student activists who have been in custody in Novi Sad since mid-March.
"The European Parliament calls on the Serbian authorities to release Marija Vasić, Lazar Dinić, Mladen Cvijetić, Lado Jovović, Srđan Đurić and Davor Stefanović from detention," states the Resolution, which was adopted on the proposal of the European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia, Tonino Picula.
The European Parliament expressed regret "for the alleged illegal wiretapping" and detention of five activists from the opposition PSG and one student from the organization Students against authoritarian government (STAV) in March 2025, as well as due to the issuing of warrants for other STAV activists.
