In late May, ten Serbian civil society organisations[1] filed a document supplementing a criminal report over the non-consensual unlocking and infection with spyware of the mobile phones of a student activist and a journalist at the end of 2024.
In December 2024, Amnesty International published a report titled Digital Prison – Surveillance and Repression of Civil Society in Serbia, presenting evidence of unlawful digital surveillance of journalists and activists involving abuse of digital forensics and invasive spyware and amounting to the violation of the numerous rights of the targeted individuals, as well as the people they had any kind of contact with.
The report prompted ten human rights organisations to activate all available legal mechanisms in late 2024. In addition to a filing a criminal report with the Cybercrime Prosecution Service against unidentified police and Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) officers, they also submitted a request to the Protector of Citizens (Ombudsman) to initiate an inquiry into BIA and police actions on his own motion, as well as a complaint by one of the targeted journalists. The CSOs also requested of the Commissioner for Access to Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection to initiate oversight of the operations of these authorities.
However, it remains unknown whether these institutions have taken any steps to examine the lawfulness of BIA and police actions and to establish the liability of those responsible.
Illegal surveillance by state authorities has continued, as demonstrated by the confirmed attempted Pegasus spyware attack on two BIRN journalists in late March. There are also clear indications of further cases of unlawful digital surveillance. State authorities charged with security have evidently been unlawfully spying on large numbers of activists and journalists.
Serbian institutions have remained silent to continuing unlawful digital surveillance, just one form of pressure and intimidation targeting journalists, activists and human rights organisations. At the same time, UN Special Rapporteurs sent a communication to the Government of Serbia on 2 April 2025, noting that arbitrary arrests, attacks on journalists, smear campaigns, police raids on CSOs, surveillance and lack of effective investigations and accountability of those responsible, were all contrary to international human rights standards. The Special Rapporteurs called on the Government of Serbia to respond to all allegations of attacks on human rights defenders. The Government’s formal response, however, did not contain the requested information.
In addition, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights and the Council of Europe Monitoring Committee held separate hearings on Follow-up to Pegasus and similar spyware and secret State surveillance, which were attended also by representatives of Serbian CSOs.
Finally, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in May, urging the Serbian authorities to immediately cease the use of advanced surveillance technology against activists, journalists and human rights defenders and calling on the competent state authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into all existing cases of unlawful surveillance and use of spyware and to initiate appropriate proceedings against those responsible.
We appeal to the relevant institutions to act without delay and in accordance with Serbia’s Constitution and law and international standards, and put an end to unlawful digital surveillance and all other forms of pressure and establish the criminal liability of those responsible.
[1] Ten civil society organisations: Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, Civic Initiatives, CRTA, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM, Association “Krokodil,” Partners Serbia and SHARE Foundation.
