Vienna, 29/09/2014
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), is concerned to learn about the new hacker attacks on the Serbian website pescanik.net.
The attacks are connected to an article which claims that a high level Serbian politician plagiarized his doctoral thesis. This was the second attack on Pescanik web, since the website was previously attacked in June this year regarding the same subject.
The persons responsible for the first attack have not yet been found, even though the case is still being formally investigated.
SEEMO is reminding Serbian authorities that freedom of speech are values that every democratic country must uphold. Journalists and their outlets must be allowed to work freely and without the threat of censorship.
“ I would personally like to express my great concern, and to offer our support to Pescanik and all other websites were attacked in the past months in Serbia. The perpetrators of these attacks must be brought to justice and punished as soon as possible. Such attacks are not only dangerous for journalists and media, but also the society. Critical voices must not be pressured or forcefully censored.” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic stated.