Belgrade, Oct 19, 2009 - Dragana Vučković, Dušan Kosanović, Majda Puača, Marija Savić and Milica Đorđević, members of the Organizing committee of the Belgrade Pride 2009, filed an initiative to the Constitutional court of Serbia, appealing the decision to ban the Pride Parade that was scheduled to take place on September 20, 2009.

The Appeal to the Constitutional court was filed to dispute the decision of the Police Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, which ordered the organizers to move the gathering from down-town Belgrade to Ušće (the confluence of Sava and Danube rivers), and for the omission by state authorities to act within their full prerogatives to prevent the violence over the participants in the Pride and to secure the elementary constitutional right of free public gathering. The organizing committee also intends to file a similar petition with the European Court of Human Rights.

The main goal of the Appeal is to protect the right to free peacefully gathering, defence of endangered minority rights and open threats against a minority, in this case the LGBT community in Serbia.

The initiators also intend to point out at the unacceptable restriction of the right of free public gathering of all discriminated groups in Serbian society – workers, Roma, women or any other group that wants to express political views and positions in a peaceful protest.

If either the Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights awards some compensation of non-material damages, the plaintiffs will donate the whole amount to charities. The case is represented by the Belgrade Human Rights Centre.