Spiegel: NGOs, media dangerous to Serbian president under investigation

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German weekly Der Spiegel warned in its latest issue that investigations have been launched against independent journalists and others who are seen as a danger to President Aleksandar Vucic who is not being criticized by the European Union which wants him as a partner in resolving the Kosovo issue.

“Serbian President Vucic recently declared a triumphal victory after his right-national-conservative Serbian progressive Party (SNS) won three fourths of the seats in parliament at the late June elections but Vucic’s joy over the fantastic result did not last long since Serbia has not calmed down after those elections,” Deutsche Welle quoted the magazine as saying.

It recalled the partly-violent protests early in July. “The reason was a drastic increase in the number of people infected with the coronavirus and the president’s and government’s failure to manage the crisis. Thousands of doctors made an open appeal to protest the auhtorities’ bad health policies and demand the resignation of the pandemic Crisis Staff,” it said. Spiegel added that the media revealed details of an arms for Armenia scandal which showed “all the dimensions of corruption and organized crime and pushed Serbia into a diplomatic conflict with Azerbaijan”. “Add to that the anger of part of the public over the elections: election rules were broken and attempts at falsifying results reported during the campaign and the vote and virtually all opposition parties boycotted the elections,” it said.

According to the German weekly, Vucic found himself in what it calls a delicate situation and “launched attacks against the remaining freedoms in Serbia”. “The Serbian authorities have been conducting investigations against almost 40 NGOs and independent media as well as some 20 individuals claiming suspicion of money laundering and possible terrorist links. No specific charges against them have been disclosed,” it said, adding that the organizations under investigation include two of the biggest NGOs – the Helsinki Committe in Serbia and Belgrade Center for Human Rights as well as the BIRN, CINS and Krik investigative news portals which have revealed a number of corruption and abuse of power affairs involving the Vucic regime. “Aleksandar Vucic is a man who wants power, with an insatiable thirst to hold even more power and control. He can’t handle criticism. The attacks on independent NGOs and journalist networks are following the same scenarios as with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orban,” Vienna-based Western Balkans expert Vedran Dzihic told the magazine.

According to Spiegel, “the independent journalist networks which are being investigated are the real threat to the Serbia president”. “Their reports have always caused a bitter public reaction and mobilized the public to demonstrations but there has been no public criticism over the money laundering investigation from the European Union or Berlin. The most important thing for Brussels and Berlin is not losing Serbia as a partner in resolving the conflict in Kosovo,” it said and recalled that Vucic enjoys the open support of Viktor Orban and his Fides party. “The Hungarian prime minister is one of the fiercest advocates of Serbia’s quick entry into the EU. Orban hopes that will strengthen the non-liberal counter-balance to Brussels,” it said.

Dzihic is quoted as saying that the project to form a non-liberal alliance runs counter to both the EU and democracy and warning that a pragmatic approach to the new autocrats will not turn them into democrats. “The EU has to take the side of freedom-loving democratic forces or lose part of its legitimacy,” he said.

Spiegel recalled that Vucic claimed that a money laundering investigation is underway against four cabinet ministers whose names he did not disclose. “Finance Minister Sinisa Mali should be among them since he symbolically represents corruption in Serbia. Mali was involved, among other things, in an affair over a large real estate project in Belgrade worth billions and he owns 24 luxury apartments on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast whose origin he can’t explain. He has suffered no political consequences over that to date,” Spiegel said.