NGO: Serbian authorities are cracking down on organizations that have been pointing out corruption for years

Twenty non-governmental organizations (NGOs) today issued a joint statement assessing that the Serbian authorities, through an investigation by the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, want to "get even" with civil society, which for years has been pointing to abuses related to public competitions, corruption, violations of the law and citizens' electoral rights.

The statement says that the government accuses the civil sector of misusing donations from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), while on the other hand ignoring phantom NGOs that spend money from the Serbian budget.

"We demand that the harassment of civic organizations through the abuse of Serbian institutions be immediately stopped, that the government stop its smear campaigns through tabloids, and that those who are truly spending Serbian taxpayers' funds for no purpose be investigated, including all other funds allocated through state institutions," reads a statement sent by the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation.

It is added that the United States, through USAID and other American agencies, has allocated development assistance to Serbia totaling over a billion dollars since 2000, and that the majority of these funds ended up in the Serbian budget, not in the accounts of civil society organizations and the media.

"USAID, among other things, donated $10 million to the Serbian government for the 'Better Energy' project, $9.8 million for judicial reforms, $9 million for assistance in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, and $8.5 million for the Responsible Government Project," it was announced.

Among the organizations signing the statement are the Association of Independent Electronic Media, the Autonomous Women's Center, the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Civic Initiatives, the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, Partners Serbia, and others.

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office (HPO) in Belgrade announced today that it has ordered the seizure of all documentation related to USAID donations from four non-governmental organizations in Serbia, as well as interviews with the responsible persons of those NGOs regarding the spending of funds from donations.

The statement states that, at the order of the VJP, the police this morning began collecting information regarding the work of the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), Civic Initiatives, the Center for Practical Politics, and the Trag Foundation.