On Thursday 26 March, an hour before midnight, the lifeless body of a 25-year-old woman was found on the square in front of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade.
It is assumed that she was a student who jumped from a window in panic after pyrotechnics were set off on the fifth floor of the faculty building. The circumstances under which the pyrotechnics entered the faculty building are under investigation.
The case has stirred the already turbulent atmosphere in Serbia, where on 1 November 2024 the canopy of the railway station in Novi Sad collapsed. Fourteen people died at the time, including children among the victims.
The tragedy in Novi Sad triggered massive student protests against the government and president Aleksandar Vučić. They have not died down to this day, and the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade is one of their epicentres.
Demonstrations in Novi Sad following the tragedy at the railway station, November 2024 (Source: Andrej Bán/Denník N)
Pretext for an attack on the university
The head of the local police station in the centre of Belgrade, where the faculty is located, Radenko Resanović, said that the pyrotechnic devices that had been set off were extinguished, after some time, by faculty staff.
“There were indications that an incident had previously taken place inside the building,” the daily Vreme reported quoting Serbian ombudsman Zoran Pašalić.
Immediately after the still-unexplained tragedy, it became politicised.
Police raided the offices of the Belgrade University rector, looking for evidence of “negligence”. This happened according to the Balkan Insight website after government officials tried to blame university staff who had supported the protest movement of Serbian students.
The tragedy occurred after repeated statements by the government that it would abolish the legal autonomy of university faculties. The flames were further fanned by unfounded claims from government politicians that university managers were responsible for the student’s death.
Members of the anti-corruption unit of the Directorate of Criminal Police carried out a raid in the offices of the rector. They seized servers and other equipment used to store recordings from security cameras. The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade asked the anti-corruption office to collect evidence.
Attacks from pro-government tabloid media
The police raid, combined with the seizure of items, further escalated the tense situation in Serbia. The University of Belgrade argued that items which had no connection with the case were seized. According to the university, the case was misused for political purposes and for a “shameless campaign” by the tabloid media.
After the news of the student’s death was published, tabloid media close to the government launched a smear campaign against the rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, and the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Danijel Sinani.
The daily Informer claimed, without any evidence, that both men were responsible for the student’s death because of insufficient security at university faculties. Đokić and Sinani are a thorn in the side of the regime of authoritarian president Vučić because they openly expressed support for the students who have been protesting since the catastrophe in Novi Sad.
The tabloid went so far as to use, in one of its headlines, the same slogan that protesting students use against Vučić: “Đokić and Sinani – You Have Blood on Your Hands.”
The minister of education, Dejan Vuk Stanković, also joined the campaign against the academics.
Three days after the tragedy, he told the public broadcaster RTS that the education ministry “must take over the baton” in managing faculties from “negligent deans” in order to protect students.
In the tense situation, the EU ambassador to Serbia, Andreas von Beckerath, called on all parties “to refrain from politicising this very tragic event” and urged the media to “show respect”.
Opposition: Government dismantling university autonomy
According to the opposition (centre-left, pro-European) Democratic Party, the entry of criminal police into the rector’s of the University of Belgrade showed that the government no longer hid its intention to completely dismantle the autonomy of universities, using force and the abuse of police as tools to discipline dissidents.
The party claimed that direct responsibility for this persecution lay with education minister Stanković, who recently, in the name of president Vučić and through the media, announced an open confrontation with “disobedient” faculties.
“His statements that the state must ‘take over the baton’ in managing faculties from the dean and the rector, as well as his threats to use repressive methods, were merely the announcement of this hitherto unprecedented level of aggression by the regime against academic freedoms. It is particularly hypocritical and morally unacceptable that the tragedy and death of a student of the Faculty of Philosophy are being used as a pretext for these dishonourable acts,” the Democratic Party said.
Student strike at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade (Source: Andrej Bán/Denník N)
Critical speech by the rector
Five days after the tragedy, the rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, addressed citizens from the balcony of the rector’s building, speaking to those gathered at a protest in front of the university’s headquarters.
He said that members of the criminal police had entered the faculty building without prior notice and without respecting the autonomy of the oldest and most respected educational institution in Serbia.