PM: State had no part in Pescanik website attack

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said on Tuesday that it has been ascertained that the Pescanik website was attacked from two IP addresses, and underscored that the state had no part in the cyber attack.
The Pescanik website carries analyses and opinions by human rights activists, journalists, distinguished public figures, professionals and academicians.

Vucic told reporters at the Serbian government that, after all that had happened recently, he suspected that the Pescanik website was attacked and taken down, and that he was proven right.

It has also been established where the attacks came from and that the state had no part in this, he said.

The prime minister said that the state would investigate all such cases and disclose who was behind them.

"When the investigation is done, the public will be fully informed about that," the prime minister said.

Referring to the analysis published on the Pescanik website that suggested that Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic's PhD thesis contained some plagiarized passages, the prime minister noted that this was the most ridiculous explanation he had ever seen.

"This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read," Vucic said, adding that Education Minister Srdjan Verbic agreed with his remark.

The prime minister said that if someone wanted to attack Stefanovic, they could have done it in a much better and smarter way.

When asked whether the interior minister would resign if accusations of plagiarism proved true, Vucic said that Stefanovic would surely know what to do.

According to Vucic, it is Serbia's obligation to secure conditions for work of all non-governmental organizations, as well as...