“IMMEDIATE CANCELLATION OF GENERAL STAFF DECISION”: Blockading Applied Arts Students Issue 5 Demands to Serbian Government!

Belgrade, Serbia – “If, as the prosecution states, the Proposal for the Decision on the Cessation of Cultural Heritage Status was falsified, then the entire Decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia from November 2024 was made unlawfully and based on forged documentation,” announced the plenum of students of the Faculty of Applied Arts (FPU) on their Instagram account.

Their statement addresses the case in which the acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Goran Vasić, is suspected of forging documents based on which the General Staff building complex had its cultural heritage status revoked.

As a reminder, yesterday, the acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Goran Vasić, admitted guilt to the prosecutor for the crime he is charged with and presented his defense.

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FPU students remind that “the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia of November 14, 2024, was made without consultation with expert bodies,” and that “established procedures for the protection of cultural heritage were thereby bypassed.”

“This violates the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage,” the FPU students further explain, adding that “this represents not only a legal but also a deeply moral scandal and an attack on the cultural heritage of Belgrade and Serbia.”

In their announcement, the FPU students also listed five demands:

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“We demand:

That the disputed decisions of the Government of the Republic of Serbia of November 14, 2024, be immediately annulled; That the General Staff building complex continues to enjoy protection in accordance with the Law on Cultural Heritage; That the competent authorities conduct a swift and transparent investigation and inform the public about the results; That a professional, independent, and competent person, in accordance with professional standards and rules, and not political will, be appointed as the director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. We recall that the employees of the Republic Institute also demanded that the director be a person with at least nine years of professional experience, which is the minimum for the responsible performance of that function; That the work of the Institute be secured from further pressures, political influences, and abuses.”

“Cultural heritage belongs to all of us. Its protection is not a choice – it is an obligation,” the FPU students conclude in their statement.