Serbian police closed the camp run by war veterans on Mount Zlatibor that gave military training to children as young as 14, citing concerns about the possible abuse of minors.
Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said on Friday that the camp ran by Serbian and Russian veterans that gave military training to children and young adults was shut down late on Thursday.
“We issued a warrant to disband the camp due to the possible abuse of children and disturbance to the public,” Stefanovic told media.
The Serbia-based Association of Participants of the Armed Conflict in the former Yugoslavia, UOSYU, organised the Youth Patriotic Camp Zlatibor 2018, that opened on August 9 and was meant to run until August 18.
At the camp, uniform-clad children and young adults aged from 14 to 23 were given military training, taught first aid and survival skills by Russian and Serbian veterans, many Serbian media reported.
Russian international TV network RT published a brief video report on the camp.
The president of UOSYU, Zeljko Vukelic, said that the police arrived late Thursday, after 10pm, and demanded that the Zlatibor camp be vacated, but showed no written warrant.
“We told them it was not right of them to come like that, and that we didn’t violate any laws,” Vukelic told BIRN, adding that there were no weapons at the camp and that children were trained with rubber and plastic replicas.
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