Has a smear campaign launched against a member of Viola von Cramon’s staff because he is an ethnic Serb?

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KoSSev
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Đorđe Bojović viola fon kramon
FOTO: Đorđe Bojović

“For those who wonder why Viola is often so out of touch when it comes to Kosovo. Did you know that her main parliamentary assistant, a Serb, is the one who organizes her meetings with Russian spies, her trips to Mitrovica where she meets with Serbian🇸 criminals?” – reads the tweet of an X user “Kosovo is Dardania” marking the latest attack on the staff of the European Rapporteur for Kosovo.

Djordje Bojović, advisor for the Western Balkans of the European Parliament, found himself the target of this online negative campaign.The user „Kosovo is Dardania“ also published a video in which this young Serbian expert on the law of the European Union speaks at a gathering, with the description that he „minimizes and tries to trivialize the Serbian genocide in the face of Kosovo’s Albanian population“.

In this clip, which the Youth Initiative for Human Rights later confirmed was filmed at their meeting several years ago, Bojović says that „a mistake is made when the crimes committed in Kosovo are called genocide, and that neither Račak nor other crimes were genocide“.

This Twitter user then published a video from the end of May last year, after the deployment of special units inside and in front of the municipalities in the north, when von Kramon visited Zvečan and spoke with the Kosovo special forces.

This user described her short conversation with members of special KP units as follows:
“When Viola came to insult our police officers in the north of Kosova, who do you think was with her? Who do you think is the gentleman in beige next to Viola? Yes, it’s her negationist assistant who denies the genocide perpetrated by Serbia in Kosova.”

One of the users of the „X“ network, who also has the Albanian flag in his profile name, with the description that he „deconstructs Serbian propaganda“, commented on the statement that Viola von Cramon published on the occasion of her earlier meeting with the now arrested Novica Antić.

Antić, who was the president of the Serbian Military Union, has publicly criticized what he sees as the illegal actions of the Serbian military and political authorities. Along with this arrest, a controversial article appeared in the European magazine „Politico“ about him being a „Russian agent of influence“, who allegedly knowingly worked closely with the Russian security agency, and reportedly held meetings with European officials in Brussels, especially members of the European Parliament.

One of those MEPs were German Greens MP Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Italian Socialist and Democrat MP Alessandra Moretti and Vladimir Bilčik, a Slovakian member of the conservative European People’s Party Group, according to a press release and photo obtained by Politico.

Serbian independent media shared the position of individuals who believe that this is incorrect information and that Antić is a member of the Serbian Armed Forces with an impeccable biography.

„It wouldn’t have happened to you if you didn’t have such a Trojan horse under your wing. Your team is probably fighting for their own interests. Inconvenient,“ this X user wrote. Moreover, he also published Bojović’s photo, and then retweeted all of this with „Kosovo is Dardania“.

YIHR: No Smear Campaign Can Stop Dialogue in the Region

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights, at whose event this video was recorded, reacted to the campaign launched against Bojović on social networks.

“In light of the misuse of the video created during our exchange program ‘This is Kosovo’ in early 2015, that targets one of the programme’s participants, Djordje Bojovic, we feel the need to address this issue,” they said, adding that they stand with their former colleague and an activist Djordje Bojović.

“We deeply believe that young people have the right to ask questions they are interested in, to express their opinions, and to question dominant narratives imposed by the political elites. Their role in dealing with the past is also to build a democratic culture that is inclusive, and allows conversations that respect the victims. Young people who participate in our programs have the right to engage in debates with stakeholders and ask questions,” YIHR said in a statement.

“We strongly believe that such attacks are wrong, damaging and should not be tolerated. YIHR will always stand with young people in our visiting programs asking difficult questions and engaging in debates with politicians and institutions. No smear campaign can stop the dialogue in the region. We will fight any of the attempts to do so, as we did for the past twenty years,” they concluded.

Selimi reacted

The former Kosovo Minister of Foreign Affairs, Petrit Selimi, said on Twitter that farms of trolls supporting ruling party in Kosovo are now attacking everyone who has any word of criticism for Kurti.

He said he is disturbed when he sees:

“Government-directed trolls attacking personal friends of Kosovo like Viola von Cramon (and her staff), Quint ambassadors and diplomats, (some of whom like Hovenier have been helping Kosovo since Ahtisaari or even Rambouillet times), Ali Ahmeti, Redi Rama, etc.”

Bojović: An attempt to intimidate and discredit me. Sorry, but you failed – normalcy will prevail

Bojović himself reacted in the meantime, underlining that this is a coordinated bot campaign.

“Today a number of bots (and then not only bots), mainly from Kosovo, started a coordinated online campaign stating that I have denied the crimes committed in ’98-’99, and that I am unfit to be the advisor of Viola von Cramon as a Russian spy/Serbian agent,” he said.

He assessed this verbal attack as an attempt to intimidate and discredit him, then listed his years-long work which contradicts such allegations.

“Firstly, I have been working on Serbia-Kosovo relations for more than 12 years, bringing hundreds of young people from Serbia to Kosovo and vice versa. We were the first ones to bridge the gap between the two societies post-’99, and it remains true till this day with youth exchange programmes, “Mirdita – Dobar Dan” festival, joint reconciliation actions including REKOM and much more.”

“Secondly, I have never denied any crime committed by Serbian forces or in the name of the people I belong to. On the contrary, for years, we have been at the forefront of organising Srebrenica genocide commemoration in Belgrade and other actions, as for instance in 2015.”

Bojović also shared link supporting his claims, addressing the clip that was used to share the accusations against him. He revealed that it is only a clip cut from a longer video, which he published, stating that is an example of disinformation.

“Finally, it clearly prevents all participants of prospective exchange programme to express themselves freely, to discuss and challenge all authorities and narratives. Lastly, if the idea was to frighten, intimidate or discredit me – sorry, but you have failed. Reason, dialogue and normalcy will prevail. Thanks all for the support!”


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