Serbian Treatment Center Closes After Violent Video Surfaces

The Serbian Orthodox Church ordered an addiction-treatment center near the Serbian city of Novi Pazar to close after a video of a patient being beaten as part of his treatment surfaced on the Internet, Reuters reported May 23.

The church ordered the facility to shutdown immediately and asked Bishop Artemije, the head of the local diocese, to “launch proceedings against those responsible in line with the church's laws and regulations.”

The video showed one of the center's employees hitting a man with a shovel, kicking him, and hitting him with brass knuckles. Two other men held the victim, who was eventually knocked unconscious.

“We are asking state bodies to undertake appropriate measures,” the church said in a statement. “We are expressing our deepest regret to all victims of the violence.”

The church issued the statement after the Serbian Health Ministry announced that it would investigate methods used by the rehabilitation center and Sasa Janjovic, a human-rights activist, said he filed criminal charges against the center and its lead priest, Dejan Peranovic.

Peranovic said the beatings were a “hard and unwanted, but necessary part of treatment.”