Stojanovic is a historian and associate professor at Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy.

"You are close to our embassy, the French Institute. You speak excellent French and demonstrate the independence of spirit, calling on people around you to beware of the partial instrumentalization of history. You truly prove that beautiful maxim by Fenelon- a good historian is timeless; although he is a patriot, he will never flatter his country in any respect," Moro said during the ceremony.

The historian "tanked for the decoration, underlining that the French language, culture and history had a profound effect on her education and research work, and voiced her opinion that a strive for an open debate about the past is a fight for human and universal values," Tanjug reported.