Dejan Lucić arrested in Serbia a day before elections

Publicist Dejan Lucić was detained in Serbia on October 24, 2026 — a day before national elections — after prosecutors in Belgrade ordered his arrest on suspicion that his online statements sought to provoke panic and fear among citizens.

Lucić posted a video on the social network TikTok in which he asserted, "Vučić will steal the elections and declare victory," and predicted that more than one million dissatisfied citizens would take to the streets afterward.

Claims in the video and official status

In the same recording Lucić said the president, Aleksandar Vučić, would falsify voting results and declare himself the winner, and that police and the army would refuse to intervene while large protests unfolded.

Several media outlets that published the story described those assertions as false. So far, the authorities have not published an official legal qualification of the alleged offence.

The arrest order was issued by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, which authorities say acted because the statements were intended to incite widespread alarm on the eve of the vote. The case is likely to be followed closely as elections proceed.

Photo: press material from the event