Serbovia
Establishing Nation
Karelingradskaya Gazeta
Est.1928 - The largest daily newspaper in Greater Serbovia. Available domestically in Serbovian, Lusatian and Sarmatian in general editions and in Korelan and Darujhi in local editions.
KARELINGRAD, SERBOVIA PROPER - Supreme Court throws out dismissal appeal by five Vinograd professors
The year-long Vinograd Professors case appears to be reaching a definitive ending after the Union Supreme Court rejected an appeal made by the professors concerning their February 2010 dismissal from their positions at the Central University of the Serbovian Banat. The Supreme Court read out its verdict in the case Korolyov, Korzhakov, Nikonov, Sikorsky and Slavik vs The Banat today amidst high media attention and student demonstrations in support of the professors.
Social Science professors Andrei Korolyov and Feodor Korzhakov, Law professor Anton Nikonov, Economics professor Michal Sikorsky and Humanities professor Teodor Slavik were dismissed from their offices at the university after taking part in violent student demonstrations opposed to a hike in tuition fees starting in 2011 that was announced by the Banat's Minister of Education and Culture Jana Mladenov (Monarchist). The professors appeared in rallies opposed to the change during January 2010, while Korolyov and Korzhakov were arrested during a Mounted Gendarme operation to empty a Faculty of Social Sciences building that had been squatted by Communist students during the course of the demonstration. Several other staff members took part in the demonstrations and faced disciplinary action on behalf of the university.
The case of the Vinograd Professors, championed by lawyer and Rights Alliance chairman Boris Petrenko, has been considered to be of significance in relation to the ability of political organization by higher education professors and staff. Petrenko's case against the dismissal that passed all the way from the Greater Vinograd Prefectural Court into the Supreme Court was grounded in claims that the dismissal had violated the fundamental freedoms of speech of the professors in question in addition to violating the employment agreements signed between university professors and the Serbovian Banat.
"Fundamental freedoms of speech guaranteed by the Union Charter of Rights are an entirely different thing than illegal seizure of public property and resistance to public law enforcement forces", Supreme Court Chief Justice Anatoly Medvedev said in a concluding address of the trial. "Professors Korolyov, Korzhakov, Nikonov, Sikorsky and Slavik should have recognized the fact that as high-ranking employees of the public establishment they have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a dignified and appropriate manner", Medevedev stated. Boris Petrenko has stated his intent to appeal to the Regent and Chairman Director, His Excellency Alexei Nikitin, Baron of Upper Taman, (Kadet.) but Nikitin is expected to reject such appeals.
Two thousand demonstrators from the Vanguardist and Autonomist wings of the Communist Party as well as the nonpartisan Alliance of Labour Justice leftist group assembled in Karelingrad on the morning of the court's final day, while a smaller group of several hundred students demonstrated outside of the Banat Ministry of Education and Culture and the CUSB main building in Vinograd. Several arrests were reportedly carried out by Gendarmes and the Karelingrad Prefectural Police for causing public disturbance.
Though appeals to the Regent are likely to face rejection, it is believed that the case will continue in the public eye at least through parliamentary discourse. Several Trudovik and Communist members of the Duma have expressed vocal support against the dismissal of the Vinograd Professors, and the case is expected to be discussed in the Duma's next full session on Monday. Former Professor Sikorsky is a known member of Communist Party-Autonomist while Professor Korolyov stood as a candidate for the Trudovik Party in 2009's Duma elections.