The right-wing’s vulgar and dangerous assaults at
Chairwoman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Sonja Biserko on the one hand, and governmental institutions and
political structures’ failure to adequately react against them on
the other testify of the Serbian society’s deep moral crisis.
Publishing, commenting and ridiculing any initiative for a testimony
before the International Court of Justice is impermissible, the more
so since only the Court is authorized to decide the outcome of such
an initiative. Therefore, there is no interpretation of reactions by
certain circles in Serbia other than an uncivilized attempt at
influencing the highest international court all of which reveals the
poor state of Serbia’s legal consciousness. Moreover, deliberations
about the side to benefit from someone’s testimony and the one to be
harmed by it reflect cultural backwardness – not only contrary to
the spirit of modern times but also to the tradition of the Serb
nation dating back in the Middle Ages. As it seems, today’s
„patriots“are unaware that Mother Jevrosima of Serbia’s epic poetry
taught her son to tell the truth and only the truth, without fear or
favor. They are unaware that a witness under oath is duty-bound to
tell truth: to whose advantage or disadvantage has nothing to do
with justice. These „patriots“fear the truth about
the developments in 1990s and try to hide it by assaulting Sonja
Biserko. They, as well as those who silently support them, ignore
that Sonja Biserko is someone who has been promoting human rights
and democracy in Serbia with dedication for over twenty years, a
person rewarded and renown internationally for her work. And instead
of her work being appreciated in Serbia as well, she is subject to a
harangue typical of Europe’s evil days. This is why
we, signatories of this petition, express our solidarity with and
support to Sonja Biserko, call upon Serbia’s authorities to stop
flirting with the extreme right, intolerance and violence, and fully
commit themselves to the promotion and protection of European
cultural and political values.
Alliance of Anti-Fascists of Serbia Women in
Black Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights |