Filip Ejdus@FilipEjdus
Full transcript of today's historic speech by the Rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić:
“Dear citizens of Serbia,
At noon today, members of the Criminal Police entered the building of the Rectorate of the University of Belgrade. Without prior notice. Without a clear legal explanation. Without respect for the autonomy of the oldest and most distinguished educational institution in Serbia.
They seized computers and servers. They are searching offices. They are looking for documents.
And while they were doing this, regime television broadcast it live. They did not come to investigate. They came to humiliate. They came to tell every professor, every student, every citizen: this is what happens to those who do not remain silent.
Let us clearly state what happened today.
A young woman died on Thursday. A tragedy that deserves a dignified, independent, and thorough investigation. The University of Belgrade immediately called for such an investigation. We offered full cooperation.
Instead, we received a police raid in front of cameras.
The Rectorate’s computers contain no information relevant to the investigation of the death of a student at the Faculty of Philosophy. Everyone knows this. But that is not the point. The point is the image: police in the Rectorate. The rector under investigation. The university on its knees.
That image is meant for you. To make you afraid. To make you think: if they can do this to the University, what can they do to me?
But let us look at another image.
As the police entered through one door, students arrived through another. Thousands of them. Spontaneously. Without party calls, without organization, without buses.
They came because they know what is happening. They came because this is their university. They came because they are not afraid.
That is the real image of today. Not the police in the Rectorate, but the students in front of it.
To the authorities who ordered this, I say:
You can take the computers and servers. You cannot take the truth.
You can search offices. You cannot search the conscience of the people.
You can send the police. But for every patrol you send, a thousand students will come.
Sixteen people died in Novi Sad. No one was held accountable. No one was dismissed. No servers were seized. No offices were searched.
But when a rector stands with students, then the police arrive.
That tells you everything you need to know about this government. They are not afraid of crime. They are afraid of education.
To the students, I say:
You saw what happened today. You saw the police in your University. You saw cameras broadcasting it as if it were a victory.
It is not a victory. It is an admission of defeat. When a government sends police to a university, it means it has lost all arguments. When it seizes computers instead of answering questions, it means it has no answers.
For fifteen months you have stood in the streets. In the rain. In the sun. In the cold. They said you would give up. You did not. They said you were terrorists. You are not. They said you were foreign mercenaries. You are not. Now they are sending police to your University.
And you will not give up now either.
To the citizens of Serbia, I say:
What happened today at the University of Belgrade is not an attack on me personally. This is an attack on the idea that there is anything in Serbia that the government cannot control. The University is the last institution still standing upright. That is why they came.
But the University does not stand upright because it has walls. It stands because it has people. Professors who refuse to remain silent. Students who refuse to be afraid.
Citizens who refuse to forget the sixteen lives lost in Novi Sad.
They can take the computers and servers. But what makes this University, honor, knowledge, truth, they cannot put in a box and carry out of the building.
On the investigation:
The University of Belgrade fully respects the rule of law. We support every lawful investigation. But what happened today has nothing to do with an investigation. It has to do with intimidation.
I repeat the call: we demand an independent investigation, and if necessary one under international supervision, into the circumstances of our student’s death. We demand forensic experts, not political operations. We demand truth, not punishment for those who seek it.
To the international community:
Today, police entered the University of Belgrade. This is being broadcast live as a political spectacle. This is not an investigation. This is a crackdown on freedom of thought.
I call on universities across Europe, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and all who believe in academic freedom: to speak out. Today Belgrade. Tomorrow any other university in Europe that dares to stand with its students.
I will conclude as I began - with the truth.
This government is not attacking the University because we have done something wrong.
It is attacking us because we have done something right.
We stood with the students. We stood with the truth. We stood with Serbia.
And we will continue to do so. With servers or without them.
Power lies not in malice, but in knowledge"
