Belgrade University condemns media attacks on Rector and professors

NEWS 09.10.201920:07
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The Belgrade University Senate condemned on Wednesday the verbal assaults and insults by come media against Rector Ivanka Popovic and Professors Danijel Sinani and Ognjen Radonjic.

Several pro-government electronic and print media attacked the Rector and professors for their support of students who locked themselves into the University Rectorate, demanding an ethics committee ruling on Finance Minister Sinisa Mali’s allegedly plagiarized doctoral thesis.  

A statement said that the University supports “freedom of thought and expression among the community of students, researchers and teachers”.  

The Senate said that “attempts to disqualify Rector Popovic, (School of Philosophy) Deputy Dean Sinani and Professor Radonjic based on insinuations about their origins are impermissible” and recalled that those attacks are “punishable under existing regulations in Serbia”.  

“Belgrade University has a special obligation to advocate tolerance and truth in public speech,” the statement said.