State Department Criticizes Vucic’s Attack on Edward Joseph

Aleksandar Vucic, Belgrade, Jan.4 2023 (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

“Smear tactics against private citizens, like those used against Edward P. Joseph,  

have no place in democratic societies,” the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs has posted on its Twitter account, Radio Free Europe (RFE) has reported.  

 
In the post, the Bureau also shared a post by Edward P. Joseph, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and a former diplomat, saying that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic presented serous charges at his account with no proof to back up his allegations in a program on a Serbian TV on Dec. 30.

In its post, the Bureau also said that “independent voices and civil society organizations promote accountability and transparency.” 

“We value those building a peaceful society in the Western Balkans,” said the Tweet which also shared a photo of Joseph with Gabriel Escobar, the deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

Speaking to TV Prva last week, Vucic called Joseph, the former deputy head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, “an Albanian bot” for what Joseph had told RFE earlier on Dec. 30.