MEP: Spyware Surveillance a Criminal Attack on Democracy, Human Rights in Serbia

Vladimir Prebilic (Photo: prt.scr youtube)

Vladimir Prebilic, member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, said in a Sept. 4 statement to N1 that "the spying on students, activists and opposition leaders (in Serbia) is not a glitch in the system," but "an unacceptable criminal attack on democracy and fundamental human rights."

The student protest movement and the SHARE Foundation said on Sept. 3 that the phones of at least 14 people in Serbia were spied on using advanced spyware this year, representing the largest documented wave of such surveillance in the country.

"The illegal spying on students, activists and opposition leaders is not a glitch in the system, but direct evidence of the regime's panic and its desire to control the whole of society by surveilling its citizens," Prebilic said, adding that there is no such thing as free elections under surveillance.

"As long as the authorities use military-grade spyware, illegally spying on the opposition, claims of free elections are nothing but hypocrisy," he said. The Greens' MEPs have urged the European Commission to react, and Prebilic described the situation as "an unacceptable and criminal attack on democracy and fundamental human rights." According to him, the EU should take a clear position on the issue, or, more precisely, acknowledge "that we have reached the point of no return."