The Belgrade High Prosecutor's Office has charged six people on suspicion of preparing a "violent change of power in Serbia." Two of them have also been charged with illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.

The defendants include opposition figure Ivan Matović from Kraljevo, former chairman of the Serbian Military Trade Union Novica Antic, and two army veterans who supported the student protests.

According to the prosecutor's office, the group met on June 21 at a restaurant in Kraljevo, where they discussed a plan for a protest in Belgrade on June 28, including logistics, number of participants and actions on the ground. In a published transcript of the meeting, one of the defendants said: "You enter, occupy the government building and don't leave."

On June 25, police stopped a car driven by Ivan M., in which they found a pistol with an obliterated serial number, a magazine with 7 rounds and a box with 25 more rounds of ammunition. A search of Branko M.'s home in Kragujevac found a rifle and 135 rounds of ammunition for which he did not have a permit.

The prosecutor's office has requested an extension of detention for three of the defendants, and house arrest for two others in order to prevent a possible repetition of the crime.

The defendants' lawyer, Ivan Ninić, called the authorities' actions a "staged campaign" against political opponents, hinting at repression in the context of ongoing mass protests in the country. | BGNES