Jovo BAKIĆ

Image Credit: Medija centar Beograd/WikkiCommons

Writer and academic Jovo Bakić continued to face threats and harassment by government officials and pro-government social media trolls in 2025. Notably in July 2025, Bakić reported that local officials of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) circulated his phone number and address on social media, resulting in Bakić receiving several anonymous phone calls and threatening messages.   

Bakić’s ordeal originally started on 13 June 2019, after the independent weekly NIN published an interview in which he denounced the nationalistic stance of the Serbian authorities and connections between criminal organisations and government representatives. He subsequently faced harassment and smears by the President, official and pro-government media outlets and members of the ruling political party. Similar attacks continued throughout 2023, 2024 and 2025, including after as Bakić spoke out against the Serbian authorities’ crackdown on dissent in the wake of student-led protests (see Case Lists 2023/2024-2025).  

Jovo Bakić, born on 23 March 1970, is a writer, sociologist and academic, who specializes in national conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. His writings focus on theories of ethnicity, nation and nationalism, national minorities, refugees, conflict, and war studies, and he frequently contributes to daily independent newspapers. He currently works as Associate Professor at the University of Belgrade, Serbia.