Rector: Student Movement Has Taken Dominance Over Splintered Political Parties

Rector Vladan Djokic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)

Belgrade University rector Vladan Djokic said on Oct. 22 that the student movement "has taken dominance over splintered political parties" and that he is sure that the student ticket will win the most votes in elections on Oct. 25.

He said he was not surprised when civil society organizations uncovered Pegasus spyware on his telephone as, he claims, he has been under surveillance for over a year and a half.

"Given that this movement is specific, that it has no leader and that the students started without some kind of leader, the authorities had to focus on a person who was for them a representative of the student movement. And so they focused on me because I head the university, the biggest, most important in our country which supported the initial student demands and movement as a whole through its members and to the greatest extent," Djokic told the Demostat website.

He said it was a precedent in Serbian political culture that he did not get angry after learning that he is not on the student ticket, and added that he is not a politician. "This is some form of new democratic culture. What is more important? For me to be on the ticket or is it more important that the ticket wins? I think that anyone reasonable knows the answer to this question. On the other side, the culture of devotion to this movement is not the culture of devotion to a party and is not political. It is multi-layered and that is what we are fighting for," Djokic said.