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A human rights activist from Niš will not now face imprisonment, following the intervention by Amnesty International and a coalition of Serbian NGOs.

Maja Stojanović was convicted by a Serbian court for displaying posters in an unauthorized place. The posters had urged the Serbian authorities to arrest and transfer alleged war criminal Ratko Mladić to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (Tribunal).

After the appeals calling on the authorities of Serbia to stop the imprisonment of Maja Stojanović, the President of Serbia expressed his support for her. Boris Tadić stated that "the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal has a special value. This is not only the international obligation of Serbia, but it is something we owe to our neighbours and to ourselves."

The Serbian NGOs decided to collect and pay a fine on Maja Stojanović's behalf, following the statement by the President.

"For years, Amnesty International has been calling on the authorities of Serbia to take meaningful measures to deal with the past, including by arresting and transferring Ratko Mladić to The Hague and by supporting the Serbian NGOs working on war related crimes. Hopefully, after the statement by the President, the authorities start taking their international obligations more seriously" said Sian Jones, Amnesty International researcher on Serbia.