Rector Djokic: Police Stormed Belgrade U Head Offices to Intimidate, not Investigate

Rector Vladan Djokic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

Speaking to protestors gathered in front of the Belgrade University Head Offices in the evening of March 31 – while the police searched the building – Rector Vladan Djokic said that he does not see the unannounced action as a personal attack but rather as an attack on the idea that “anything can exist beyond the regime’s control” in Serbia.

“The University is the last [state] institution standing upright, which is why they’ve come. It is not held upright by walls, however, but by people. Professors who refuse to be silenced, students who refuse to be cowed, the public who refuses to forget the sixteen lives [lost in] Novi Sad,” Djokic stated, speaking into a bullhorn from a balcony of University Head Office building, which he could not leave the entire day due to the police search.

Addressing the investigation into the recent death of a female student at the School of Philosophy, which is the police’s official reason for entering the University, Djokic said that the University fully supports the rule of law and any legal investigation. “This today, however, has nothing to do with investigating and everything to do with intimidating,” he added. “I reiterate: we call for an independent, if need be even international, investigation into the circumstances surrounding our student’s death. We want forensic experts, not political operations. We want the truth – not targeted punishment,” Djokic told the gathering.

The rector called on the international community to react, claiming the current police activities are “not an investigation but a crackdown on the freedom of thought.” “I call on universities across Europe, on the European Commission, on the European Parliament and on everyone who believes in academic freedom to speak up. Today it’s Belgrade. Tomorrow it [could be] any other university in Europe that dares stand by its students,” Djokic warned.

According to the head dean, members of the Criminal Police entered the University Head Offices without prior notice or a clear legal explanation, and without any respect for the autonomy of the oldest and most prestigious academic institution in Serbia. “They’ve confiscated all computers and receivers. They are searching offices. Demanding documentation. And all the while, regime television stations are broadcasting live. They did not come to investigate; they came to humiliate. To tell every professor, every student, every member of the public: look what happens to those who don’t keep silent,” Djokic stated.

Police officers left the University Head Office building after 10 p.m. on March 31, after Rector Djokic exited accompanied by his attorney. The police search lasted over 11 hours and was allegedly aimed at uncovering evidence regarding the March 26 death of a female School of Philosophy student, who apparently fell from a fifth-floor window under unclear circumstances.