The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) strongly condemns yet another attempt to repress the current government due to a publicly expressed opinion by university professors in Serbia. This time, the target of local authorities is prof. Dr. Snezana Šerbul from the Technical Faculty in Bor, which is part of the University of Belgrade. Her colleague Šerbula was sued by the mayor of Bor, Aleksandar Milikić for allegedly causing panic and riots, all because of the statement in TV Nova's "Awake" program about the potential construction of a mini-nuclear power plant in Bor and the dangers of a possible accident. What is the most absurd of all, colleague Šerbula made this statement from the position of the Head of the Department for Environmental Protection, but also as a resident of Bor, that is, as an indisputably professional person and a citizen directly interested in the consequences of a potentially dangerous and very likely illegal act.
After the mayor of Bora sued her, professor Šerbula was forced to give a statement to the police, as well as to hire a lawyer at her own expense in an attempt to get the lawsuit dismissed as unfounded. It is hard to imagine that any court, no matter how sympathetic to the regime, will actually confirm a lawsuit against a professor for a publicly presented scientific opinion in her area of expertise, but this was probably not the main goal for the applicant. As in the case of other persecuted university professors who dared to express critical judgments, the main goal of this lawsuit is to provide another example of how those who dare to warn of the dangers and reasonedly criticize the decisions of the authorities, even from narrowly specialized positions, will fare.
MASA believes that with this act the field for professional, critical and free public debate in Serbia has been further narrowed and that if the academic community does not resolutely stand on the side of its colleagues, who have the courage to point out the dramatic problems facing our society from a professional position faces, then her right to defend the profession, as such, will lose any legitimacy.
