Universities around the world are essential spaces for knowledge, learning, and dialogue. Because they foster critical thinking, they inevitably upset those who seek to govern through manipulation, disinformation, or fear. Today, academic freedom is facing a worrying erosion in many countries—some far away, others much closer to home.

Following the tragic death of a student in the Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Belgrade offered its full cooperation to Serbian authorities to ensure a transparent, rigorous, and legally sound investigation. The authorities’ response—a highly publicized police raid on the rector’s office—constitutes a serious violation of university autonomy and academic freedom.

These events are part of a broader climate of threats, smear campaigns, and even acts of violence directed against students, staff members, and academic leaders, including attacks directly targeting the rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić. They are widely seen as attempts to intimidate a university community that has been mobilized since the Novi Sad incident in November 2024 to demand transparency, justice, political reforms, and the restoration of the rule of law and democracy.

Discussions held in recent months within the international academic community have clearly shown that the struggle unfolding in Serbia extends far beyond its borders. As Rector Vladan Đokić noted: “Today, this is happening in Belgrade. Tomorrow, it could happen at any other university in Europe that dares to stand alongside its students.”

The CRef recalls the fundamental principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum, which affirm that academic freedom and institutional autonomy are at the heart of democratic societies. When these principles are threatened in one country, the integrity of the entire European academic community is undermined.

The CRef therefore calls on:

  • the Serbian authorities to immediately cease all forms of intimidation against students, staff, and the administration of Serbian universities;
  • European institutions and European governments to respond firmly, clearly, and unequivocally to recent events;
  • the international academic community to express its solidarity with the Serbian academic community.