{"id":187247,"date":"2025-09-11T21:12:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=187247"},"modified":"2025-09-11T21:12:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:12:45","slug":"world-scientists-stand-with-serbian-students-public-letter-condemns-the-regime-for-violence-and-undermining-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/world-scientists-stand-with-serbian-students-public-letter-condemns-the-regime-for-violence-and-undermining-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"WORLD SCIENTISTS STAND WITH SERBIAN STUDENTS: Public letter condemns the regime for violence and undermining democracy!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>About 150 scientists from all over the world sent a public letter of support to the student movement in Serbia and accused the regime of Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 of continuous repression against students, as well as of the systematic undermining of democratic institutions, corruption, the abolition of media freedoms, and electoral irregularities.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We strongly condemn the brutal response of the security forces towards peaceful student demonstrators, we call for the restoration of democracy in Serbia, and we demand full transparency regarding the corruption that led to the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad railway station, in the accident that killed 16 people,&#8221; they stated in the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They accused the regime and the president of Serbia, Vu\u010di\u0107, of having systematically undermined democratic institutions, as well as having created an almost complete monopoly over information, while the elections are burdened with irregularities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They recalled that the organization Freedom House reclassified Serbia from a &#8220;partly free&#8221; country to an &#8220;autocratic hybrid regime&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They also stated that student and civil protests have spread to more than 400 towns and places, and that independent public opinion polls show that the majority of Serbian citizens support the students&#8217; demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The authoritarian turn in Serbia opens up fundamental questions about its suitability for membership in the European Union. Democracy in Serbia has been under siege for too long. The international community must stand with the students, recognize their legitimate aspirations, and support the restoration of democracy,&#8221; the scientists said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They called on the EU to condition Serbia&#8217;s accession negotiations on concrete progress in the protection and respect of fundamental rights and values, and above all the rule of law, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the autonomy of universities, as well as on the condition that accountability is established for those guilty of the recent violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In addition, the EU&#8217;s efforts should prioritize significant improvements to Serbia&#8217;s electoral framework, in accordance with the recommendations of the ODIHR, which are key steps towards restoring democratic standards in the country,&#8221; they stated in the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The letter was signed, among others, by scientists from Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Notre Dame, the University of California, New York University, the University of Chicago, as well as from many other universities in the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was also signed by scientists from universities and scientific institutions from Austria, Sweden, Argentina, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Mexico, Albania, Germany, Ukraine, Estonia, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Chile, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>List of signatories:<br><\/strong>Alberto D\u00edaz-Cayeros, Stanford University, USA<br>Beatriz Magaloni, Stanford University, USA<br>Kathryn Stoner, Stanford University, USA<br>Michael McFaul, Stanford University, USA<br>Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University, USA<br>Larry Diamond, Stanford University, USA<br>Adam Przeworski, New York University, USA<br>Steven Levitsky, Harvard University, USA<br>Herbert Kitschelt, Duke University, USA<br>Margaret Levi, Stanford University, USA<br>Staffan I. Lindberg, V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Sweden<br>Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University, USA<br>Erik Jensen, Stanford University, USA<br>Stanislav Jakovljevi\u0107, Stanford University, USA<br>Sr\u0111an Ke\u010da, Stanford University, USA<br>Pavle Levi, Stanford University, USA<br>Miriam Golden, Stanford University, USA<br>Carles Boix, Princeton University, USA<br>Stephan Haggard, University of California San Diego, USA<br>Scott Mainwaring, University of Notre Dame, USA<br>Andreas Schedler, CEU Democracy Institute, Hungary<br>Manuel Alc\u00e1ntara, University of Salamanca, Spain<br>Martina Kaler, University of Vienna, Austria<br>Robert Kaufman, Rutgers University, USA<br>Marcelo Bergman, National University Tres de Febrero, Argentina<br>An\u00edbal P\u00e9rez-Li\u00f1\u00e1n, University of Notre Dame, USA<br>Jennifer McCoy, Georgia State University, USA<br>Rachel Kleinfeld, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA<br>Gabriela Ippolito-O\u2019Donnell, National University of San Mart\u00edn, Argentina<br>Susan Stokes, University of Chicago, USA<br>Steven Fish, University of California Berkeley, USA<br>Max Cameron, University of British Columbia, Canada<br>Jean-Paul Faguet, London School of Economics, UK<br>Cristina Cucuri, Independent researcher, Ecuador<br>Hesham Sallam, Stanford University, USA<br>David Palumbo-Liu, Stanford University, USA<br>Mary-Therese Heintzkil, Stanford University, USA<br>Hannah Fols, Stanford University, Hungary<br>Jovana Lazi\u0107, Stanford University, USA<br>Mar\u00eda Ignacia Curiel, Stanford University, USA<br>Dominique Loton, Stanford University, USA<br>Jos\u00e9 Antonio Aguilar Rivera, Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), Mexico<br>Amanda Edgell, University of Alabama, USA<br>Kelly Morrison, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA<br>Sokol Leshi, New York University in Tirana, Albania<br>Lars Lot, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany<br>Dmytro Potyekhin, Factology.Systems, Ukraine\/Estonia<br>Milena Marinkovic, United States<br>Fernanda Somuano, El Colegio de M\u00e9xico, Mexico<br>Nicole Burkhardt, University of Novi Sad, Serbia<br>Edin Mujkic, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, United States<br>Steven Parks, University of Virginia, USA<br>Ilinka Ilijan, West University of Timi\u0219oara, Romania<br>Dejan Pavlovi\u0107, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia<br>Emilija Markovi\u0107, Teacher Education Faculty in Leposavi\u0107, Serbia<br>John Gould, Colorado College, USA<br>Manuel Ortiz Escamez, Social Focus, USA<br>Alexander De Juan, University of Osnabr\u00fcck, Germany<br>Dina Vozab, University of Zagreb, Croatia<br>Kri\u0161tof Gostonji, University of Osnabr\u00fcck, Germany<br>Zoran Jovanovi\u0107, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Serbia<br>Zdravko Kobe, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia<br>Sulejman Aslami, Amsterdam City Council, Netherlands<br>Danijela Petrovi\u0107 Graovac, University of Novi Sad, Serbia<br>Vlad Mykhnenko, University of Oxford, UK<br>Husnija Kamberovi\u0107, University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Philosophy, Bosnia and Herzegovina<br>Marian Zulean, University of Bucharest, Romania<br>Tomislav Pletenac, University of Zagreb, Croatia<br>Milica Vuji\u010di\u0107, University of Gothenburg, Sweden<br>W.P. (Chip) Gagnon Jr., Ithaca College, USA<br>Barbara Grining, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy<br>Claudiu Tufi\u0219, University of Bucharest, Romania<br>Dimitrije Stamenovi\u0107, Boston University, USA<br>Boban Arsenijevi\u0107, University of Graz, Austria<br>Jelena Stojkovi\u0107, University of Graz; University of Leipzig, Austria; Germany<br>Claudio Ricci, University of Geneva, Switzerland<br>Jelena Ignjatovi\u0107, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Ni\u0161, Serbia<br>Grzegorz Mazurkiewicz, Jagiellonian University, Poland<br>Athanasios Markopoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece<br>Andr\u00e9s Escala, University of Chile, Chile<br>Jacopo Friz, IRyA-UNAM, Mexico<br>Milena Ili\u0161evi\u0107, Western Sydney University, Australia<br>Vladimir Bubalo, Medical University of Graz, Austria<br>\u0110or\u0111e Popovi\u0107, UC Berkeley, USA<br>Salman Matan, Ohio State University, USA<br>Ainsley Morse, UC San Diego, USA<br>Owen Cole, Grinnell College, USA<br>Cameron Girvin, Ph.D., University of California Berkeley, USA<br>Vails Brown, Retired from Cornell University, USA<br>Iva Kosmos, University of Zagreb, Croatia<br>Nata\u0161a Kova\u010devi\u0107, Eastern Michigan University, USA<br>Tanja Softi\u0107, University of Richmond, USA<br>Dubravka Sekuli\u0107, Royal College of Art, London, UK<br>Jonathan Hartlyn, UNC-Chapel Hill, USA<br>Brian Arnold, Independent researcher, USA<br>Dana McElvy, Central European University, Austria<br>Irena Pastar, University of Miami, USA<br>Tamara Panti\u0107, Georgetown University Law Center, USA<br>Gary Shapiro, University of Richmond, USA<br>Vladimir Bejdo, University of California Berkeley School of Law, USA<br>Stanis\u0142awa Kosti\u0107, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna\u0144, Poland<br>Benjamin Capelke, UC Berkeley, USA<br>Vladimir Paskaljevi\u0107, York University, Canada<br>Nicholas Tripcevich, University of California Berkeley, USA<br>Nela Mili\u0107, Buckinghamshire New University, UK<br>Miljana Radivojevi\u0107, UCL Institute of Archaeology, UK<br>Alexandra Schneider Lee, University of Richmond, USA<br>Vera Ganun, Clarivate, USA<br>Mariela Mendez, University of Richmond, USA<br>Julio C\u00e9sar Chavelas, Autonomous University of Guerrero, Mexico<br>Elizabeth Gruner, University of Richmond, USA<br>Katya Dianina, University of Virginia, USA<br>Olya Triaska Stefanovic, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Slovakia<br>Sandra Davidovi\u0107, City University of New York, Serbia<br>Ana Anti\u0107, University of Copenhagen, Denmark<br>Petr Stehl\u00edk, Masaryk University, Czech Republic<br>Jana Ba\u0107evi\u0107, Durham University, UK<br>Margaret Bissinger, Princeton University, USA<br>Mirna Stehl\u00edkov\u00e1 \u0110urasek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic<br>Ernan Flom, Trinity College, USA<br>Alex Otieno, Arcadia University, USA<br>Raul Algarin Villalba, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain<br>Tijana Vujo\u0161evi\u0107, University of British Columbia, Canada<br>Nikola Ili\u0107, Georgetown University, USA<br>Selma \u0110ulizarevi\u0107 Karanovi\u0107, Faculty of Applied Arts, University of Arts, Belgrade, Serbia<br>Lazar D\u017eami\u0107, Goldsmiths, UK<br>Elena Messner, University of Vienna, Austria<br>Goran Lazi\u010di\u0107, University of Graz, Austria<br>Angelina Iliyeva, University of Chicago, USA<br>Stefan Milosavljevi\u0107, University of Graz, Austria<br>Human Harooni, Harvard University, USA<br>Igor Chookarin, University of Minnesota, USA<br>Axel Bago, Brown University, USA<br>Tijana Petrovi\u0107, UC Berkeley, USA<br>Juan Masullo, University of Milan and University of Leiden, Italy and Netherlands<br>Elaine Papoulias, Harvard University, USA<br>Sergio Espuelas, University of Barcelona, Spain<br>Dragana Obradovi\u0107, University of Toronto, Canada<br>Maja E. White, University of Richmond, USA<br>Zoran Todorovi\u0107, University of Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts Belgrade, RS<br>Martina Vukasovi\u0107, Department of Government, University of Bergen, Norway<br>Vesna Perunovi\u0107, OCAD University Toronto, Canada<br>Svetlana Radovanov, Beam Physics and Plasma Applications LLC, USA<br>Sheila Moroni, University of Florence, Italy<br>Marten Baes, Ghent University, Belgium<br>Lilian Tintori, World Freedom Congress, Spain<br>Dino Kadi\u0107, University of Cambridge, UK<br>Santiago Gonz\u00e1lez-Gait\u00e1n, Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Lisbon, Portugal<br>Jodi Vittori, Georgetown University, USA<br>\u0110or\u0111e \u0110urica, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria<br>Timothy Doub, Grinnell College, USA<br>Milica Popovi\u0107, Institute for Cultural Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria<br>Joseph H. Lauter, USA<br>Emily Mele, University of Virginia, USA<br>Arianna McGhirk, University of Virginia and Project Democratic Futures, USA<br>Virginia Bonney, University of Virginia, USA<br>Shazka Beyerle, USA<br>Marija Brada\u0161, Ca&#8217; Foscari University of Venice, Italy<br>Paul Fain, University of California Berkeley, USA<br>Miroslav Filipovi\u0107, Western Sydney University, Australia<br>Corinne Sweeney, University of Virginia, USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/column-kovacevic-two-tragedies-two-policies-and-one-evil-democrats-and-republicans-as-perfect-accomplices-in-a-crime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">COLUMN, KOVA\u010cEVI\u0106: Two tragedies, two policies and one evil \u2013 Democrats and Republicans as perfect accomplices in a crime!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/the-recording-caused-a-storm-on-social-media-is-this-silhouette-on-the-roof-responsible-for-the-assassination-of-charlie-kirk-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">THE RECORDING CAUSED A STORM ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Is this silhouette on the roof responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk? (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/vigils-for-charlie-kirk-across-america-the-investigation-continues-the-fbi-released-one-of-the-arrested-people\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">VIGILS FOR CHARLIE KIRK ACROSS AMERICA: The investigation continues, the FBI released one of the arrested people!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/tramp-confirms-the-death-of-charlie-kirk-great-legendary-now-he-is-no-longer-with-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">TRAMP CONFIRMS THE DEATH OF CHARLIE KIRK: \u201cGreat, legendary, now he is no longer with us\u2026\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/great-holiday-and-red-letter-day-today-we-celebrate-the-beheading-of-saint-john-the-baptist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">GREAT HOLIDAY AND RED LETTER DAY: Today we celebrate the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong>Source<\/strong><\/strong>: <\/strong>N1 \/ Nedeljnik,\u00a0<strong>Photo:<\/strong> Milos Tesic \/ ATAImages\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About 150 scientists from all over the world sent a public letter of support to the student movement in Serbia and accused the regime of Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 of continuous repression against students, as well as of the systematic undermining of democratic institutions, corruption, the abolition of media freedoms, and electoral irregularities. &#8220;We strongly condemn the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":176972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[856,3715,319,2478,3228,642,7667,113,2490],"class_list":["post-187247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","tag-aleksandar-vucic","tag-demokratija","tag-nasilje","tag-naucnici","tag-pismo","tag-protest","tag-rezim","tag-srbija","tag-studenti","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187272,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187247\/revisions\/187272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}