Human Rights Watch today condemned a new clampdown on the Internet in Serbia, part of a concerted effort by President Slobodan Milosevic to stifle free expression and academic freedom.
The university administration's order prevents students, professors, and researchers throughout Serbia from accessing a website from OpenNet, the Internet branch of Belgrade's independent Radio B92.
On December 10, the new government-appointed dean of the School of Electrical Engineering, Vlada Teodosic, ordered "filters" to prevent users of the Yugoslav academic Internet network from accessing the OpenNet website, a major source of independent news and information. The measure also affects the independent media and nongovernmental organizations in the country, many of which access OpenNet through the university.
"OpenNet has played a central role in breaking the government's information blockade," said Human Rights Watch academic freedom specialist Joseph Saunders. "President Milosevic and his allies are spearheading a direct assault on the free flow of information."
The act of censorship comes as the latest step in an ongoing attack on the universities by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. In May 1998, a new university law stripped Serbian universities of their autonomy and required all professors to sign new contracts within sixty days regardless of the terms of existing contracts and guarantees of tenure. Professors who refused to sign the new contracts, viewed by many as loyalty oaths to the government, have been harassed, suspended, and fired.
Teodosic, who has authority over the computing center at the University of Belgrade, has been a central figure in academic repression. In October, he suspended twelve engineering professors who refused to sign the new "contracts," including professors such as Branko Popovic, with nearly 150 publications to his name and awards from several international scientific societies. Teodosic hired private security guards to forcibly remove any of the twelve professors who attempted to return to their classrooms.
The attack on the Internet also comes amidst increased government harassment of the independent media in Serbia. A new Law on Information, passed on October 20, established a system of prior censorship and imposes prohibitively high fines on journalists, editors, and publishers; three newspapers have been shut down thus far.
The immediate motive for blocking OpenNet access appears to have been a link on the website to a political cartoon that showed Teodosic in a Nazi uniform giving a Nazi salute. The cartoon also portrayed another newly-appointed administrator, Milos Laban, as a monkey. The OpenNet site also hosts detailed, regularly updated information on the conflict between academics and the government, and includes letters of support for Serbian academic freedom from academics and universities around the world.
