SRF: Spying fits into the image of Serbia as an increasingly authoritarian country

Serbian authorities have been tapping at least 14 mobile phones of students, activists and opposition politicians with the help of spyware, even before the March local elections and the now announced general elections, which will certainly not be fair or free, Swiss radio and television SRF reported today.

SRF states in the text on its website that all indications point to the government being behind the wiretapping, as the Israeli company NSO Group sells its Pegasus spyware exclusively to states, and not to other actors.

The text, written in the form of questions and answers, adds that surveillance with such software is extremely expensive and technically complicated.

"Politicians, journalists and civil society representatives in Serbia have been monitored with such software before. According to Serbian law, this would be illegal," writes SRF.

Serbian authorities reject the accusations, SRF writes, but adds that they are nevertheless unpleasant for Belgrade, especially since the European Union has condemned possible spying on political opponents. "However, ultimately, this scandal should not shake the government" of Serbia, SRF assesses.

SRF reminds that protests have been ongoing in Serbia for two years, putting President Aleksandar Vučić under greater pressure than ever before, and that the authorities have so far failed to curb the protest movement.

"Now, students want to run with their own list in the parliamentary elections expected in a few weeks, and according to polls, they could threaten Vučić. Therefore, from the government's point of view, this kind of supervision of this movement makes sense," writes SRF.

At the same time, SRF adds that in Serbia, most of the media is under government control and that this topic is not even mentioned in them, but rather Vučić is praised, while students are attacked and slandered, and that only a few independent media outlets with a very small reach write about spying.

When asked whether the announced elections in Serbia can be fair if one side is eavesdropping on the other, SRF answers that they cannot.

"No. The elections in Serbia are neither fair nor free. The government has various tricks at its disposal to influence the outcome. Vote buying, government dominance in the media space, and possible rigging of election results are being criticized. Such accusations have been made before by international election observers," SRF writes.

And the likely momentum of activists and the opposition, the SRF concludes, "fits into the picture of a state in which the government is increasingly authoritarian, and which in its current form can hardly be called a democracy and a state governed by the rule of law."