After Visiting Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy, US Ambassador to Serbia Receives Death Threats on Social Media

Ambassador Christopher Hill (BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)

After a visit to Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy by US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill, threats to his and the life Dinko Gruhonjic, a professor at the University of Novi Sad, have been posted on social networks.

Such posts on social networks read: “A bullet for both of them,” and “A wooden stake for both of them.”

The Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad has issued a release saying hat on April 15, US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill visited the faculty and the Department of Media Studies, and talked with Dean Ivana Zivancevic Sekerus and Zoran Paunovic, the vice dean in charge of international cooperation.

Ambassador Hill also talked with professors and students about the media freedoms in Serbia and threats made to journalists, professors and students in Novi Sad. He also had a separate meeting with Dinko Gruhonjic who has recently received a number of threats.

Commenting on the blockade of the Faculty of Philosophy, organized by the Student Parliament of the University of Novi Sad demanding that Gruhonjic be fired over the alleged hate speech, the ambassador said that it was not the way to oppose “something someone has said.”

“People have the right to say what they want and the best way to oppose something someone has said it to offer better arguments. I do not support physical activities aimed at undermining someone’s right to speak,” Ambassador Hill said in an interview with the Novi Sad student portal Univerzitetski odjek (the University Echo).