Freedom House condemned the Serbian Government's repression of activists due to environmental protests

The non-governmental organization Freedom House condemned the campaign against Serbian civil society and called on the government to end it.

"We condemn the repression and demonization of the Serbian government against non-governmental organizations and activists during the current environmental protests," said a statement released by Freedom House on Monday evening on the X network.

The statement states that labeling these actors as foreign agents is consistent with the rhetoric used by non-democratic regimes to demonize civil society and should alarm the democratic community.

Fridom House called on the Government of Serbia to immediately stop the smear campaign.

After a series of environmental protests against lithium mining and Rio Tinto's "Jadar" project, which culminated in a mass protest in Belgrade on August 10, numerous activists were brought in, questioned, detained, while some were released.

On August 22, civil society organizations issued a statement in support of the arrested and intimidated activists and stated that "a large number of groundless arrests and detentions of citizens in recent weeks have been accompanied by a propaganda offensive against alleged foreign mercenaries who are destroying state order in the interests of enemy countries."

"The aim of such manipulations carried out by representatives of the government and the media close to it is to justify the repression of political dissenters and to deter citizens from participating in legitimate and legal protests," they stated in the announcement.

The organizations, a total of 21 of them, stated that they demand from the highest authorities to stop the persecution and intimidation of citizens who peacefully express their disagreement with some of the government's decisions.

Freedom House is an international organization based in the United States of America that documents the state of human rights and freedoms in the world.

In its reports, it assesses the state of freedom in 195 countries and 15 territories every year, and ranks them based on various indicators.

Based on the results, countries or territories are classified into three categories - free, partially free or not free. Serbia has the status of a partially free state.