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#metoo in the East? Women's rights in south-Eastern and Eastern Europe

Just over a month ago on April 10, Marija Lukić, pioneer of the #metoo movement in Serbia, went on her second trial against Milutin Jeličić Jutka, former president of a small local municipality of Brus in the centre of the country.

#metoo in the East? Women's rights in south-Eastern and Eastern Europe
Women wearing prisoner's uniforms take part in a protest against a proposed law that would prohibit abortions due to irreparably damaged fetuses. Krakow, Poland on 2 July, 2018. Photo by: Beata Zawrzel/Sipa USA/PA images. All rights reserved.
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As was the case in the previous trial, Marija received a string of insults from onlooking Jutka’s supporters (around 50 in total) as she walked into the court room.

This time six women, including journalists and activists, decided to come in support of Marija. They called their act ‘Brusy riot’ inspired by the Pussy Riot concert that took place in Belgrade that same evening.

Upon arrival to the court the small ‘Brusy riot’ group was affronted by Jutka’s aggressive supporters. As Natalija Miletić, a Serb journalist that came to support Lukić later recounted, the bystanders attacked the women for not being in school or taking care of their children.