Belgrade 3/12/2024
PUBLIC STATEMENT & APPEAL
THE COURT CASE AGAINST ATTORNEY KOKANOVIC
REFLECTS FURTHER DISSENT OF SERBIA
INTO AUTHORITARIANISM
GROUP 46 of the Forum for Security and Democracy strongly condemns the court proceeding against the attorney Cedomir Kokanovic before the Basic Court in Novi Sad that is without precedent - in which he has been detained for over 40 days in a way which risks making him permanently disabled(!) - and calls on all the competent authorities to provide Kakonvic the opportunity to prove his innocence as a free man.
G46 is of the view that the current criminal case against Kokanovic is a continuation of the political persecution against him which started in January 2023, when we also warned that his arrest was a gross violation of his rights to free expression and free speech without which any truly democratic and open society is inconceivable.
G46 warns that the current proceeding against Kokanovic which is being conducted against him in Novi Sad because of his posts on social media is not just a dangerous precedent that reflects Serbia's increasing dissent into authoritarianism but also a sign that his peers in Serbia's bar associations - the very people who should be in the front lines of the fight for the freedom and rights of all the citizens of Serbia - lack the readiness, the skill and the will to oppose this dissent.
G46 calls on all of Kokanovic's peers, representatives of civil society organizations - and especially those distinguished individuals who's freedom of expression and freedom of speech attorney Kokanovic selflessly advocated for - to join this appeal for attorney Cedomir Kokanovic to be released from detention and to clearly emphasize that without freedom of expression and freedom of speech there can never be true freedom nor true democracy.
By March 13 at 11 p.m., this appeal was supported by 124 people
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