Serbia says its embassies and a US consulate were “suspended” without explanation
The accounts of seven embassies from Serbia as well as a consulate to the US were accessed “suspended”On Monday, Belgrade’s foreign ministry stated via Twitter that it had unblocked the accounts. Serbia requested Twitter to remove the blocked accounts. It argued that this was an unacceptable form of censorship in a pro-European democracy which upholds freedom and speech.
Their accounts were maintained by the embassies of Armenia, Ghana and Iran as well as Kuwait, Nigeria, Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria and Nigeria. “suspended”On August 18, 2018, the Serbian foreign minister saidOn Monday. Similar happened at the US consulate Chicago. These suspensions took place “without any explanation or prior notice of a possible violation of the social network’s rules.”
“Without getting into Twitter’s business policies, we note that it’s unacceptable to censor diplomatic offices of a democratic state that has not been sanctioned in any way,”Belgrade.
“Serbia is a country that is strategically committed to membership in the European Union and our political and democratic standards – including media freedoms – are adjusted to be in line with the highest European standards,”In a statement, the Serbian foreign minister said so. “Therefore it is absurd that a series of our diplomatic and consular offices were censored on a social network that boasts of promoting democracy and diversity of opinion.”
Belgrade is hopeful that the ban will be lifted “not part of an attempt to thwart or silence Serbia in its struggle for the truth,” in particular about the situation in Kosovo, the foreign ministry added.
Sixteen individuals – including 13 MPs from the ruling Progressive Party – were likewise suspended without explanation last week. Arnaud GOUILLON, the French-born Aid worker who currently heads the Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora in the foreign ministry was among them. Since then, his account has been reinstated.
The day after Twitter suspended accounts from Serbia, the Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic met in Brussels with Kosovo Albanian officials. Talks mediated in part by the US, EU and other countries were meant to end tensions in the province.
After the 1999 78-day war, NATO took over Kosovo and gave it to separatists from ethnic Albania. They declared their independence with US assistance in 2008. Belgrade refuses to recognize the government in Pristina, in which it is supported by Russia, China and about half the world’s countries.
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