Serbia Court to Mull Ban on Violent Groups

The exact date of hearing on the ban will not be known until a new president of the Constitutional Court is elected, which is expected by mid-February, Balkan Insight has learned from the Constitutional Court.

"I doubt a final decision on extremist soccer fan groups will be made even after the president is elected," a court source warned Balkan Insight.

The court has discussed the issue of violent groups several times since the Public Prosecutor called on it to ban them, but has failed to reach a decision.

At the court's last meeting in December, judges reportedly claimed it was not in the court's jurisdiction to ban groups that are not registered. Not all the 14 groups mentioned by the State Prosecutor are registered.

The Deputy State Prosecutor, Slobodan Radovanovic, said it was within the court's power to outlaw the groups, regardless of whether they are registered.

"If the court's final decision is not to ban them, it will have to say under whose jurisdiction the banning of such groups comes, so we can get to that institution," he told Balkan Insight.

According to the court source, the March session may end up simply with a request for a new report to be written on the issue.

Serbia's domestic football league has been plagued with violence in recent years, with both clubs and the authorities seemingly powerless to control closely knit groups of hooligans.

Many are alleged to have close links to organised crime and far-right nationalist organisations.

The request to ban the groups followed a series of violent incidents, including the cancelation of a Belgrade Gay Pride parade and the murder of French football fan Brice Taton in September 2009.