Civic society groups in Montenegro have criticized the arrest on Thursday of an opposition Democratic Front activist for posting fake news about the President’s health.
On Thursday, authorities put Radovan Rakocevic from the town of Bijelo Polje in custody for 72 hours for the offence of spreading panic. Rakocevic had shared an article on Facebook from a Belgrade tabloid, Alo, which claimed that Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic had been infected with the coronavirus.
“The prosecutor believes that Rakocevic would be able to repeat the criminal offence if he was released and would continue to publish statements that would cause panic among citizens. So he was ordered into detention,” the prosecutor’s decision said.
While the Democratic Front called on the authorities to release Rakocevic, the head of the Civic Alliance, Boris Raonic, warned that the government cannot fight fake news with arrests. He said the authorities should be more transparent and inform the public about everything related to COVID-19.
He said a guest on the national public broadcaster had also “presented a conspiracy theory that could cause panic, but there was no reaction either from the prosecution or the [broadcasting] management. That gives us a new element to this story – selective justice,” Raonic told the daily newspaper Vijesti.
He was referring to a guest speaker on the public service prime time show “Corona stay home” who presented a theory that COVID-19 was a biological weapon. Economic analyst Predrag Drecun, considered to be close to ruling DPS party, has claimed the coronavirus was produced in the US by the Defense Ministry.
Even before the COVID-19 outbreak became more severe in Montenegro, there had been arrests for spreading panic about it. On March 13, the Basic Court ordered 30 days in custody for Milivoje Brkovic for posting a message on Facebook that said state officials were hiding the real number of people suffering from the coronavirus in Montenegro. The country confirmed its first two cases on March 17.
On March 23, a Russian citizen was put in custody for posting on Instagram that more than a thousand people had caught COVID-19 in Montenegro. To date, Montenegro has confirmed 252 coronavirus infections, two of whom have died.
On Thursday, the civic organizations and media in Montenegro have called on Prime Minister Dusko Markovic to postpone public consultations about the draft freedom of information law amid the coronavirus outbreak.
More than 50 civic organizations, journalists and media organizations warned that the lockdown had made participatory debate almost impossible.
“We have numerous restrictions on movement and there are no sessions of parliament, so there are no elementary conditions to hold a meaningful public debate on the issue,” their joint letter states.
On March 31, civil society organizations and journalists also called for a postponement, while the chair of the watchdog body Transparency International, Delia Ferreira Rubio, advised that any non-emergency legislative measure that requires public consultation should be postponed until full, active participation can be guaranteed.
Despite that, the Ministry of Public Administration has called for written comments on the law amendments to be submitted via the ministry’s email address by April 13. After that, the ministry announced, a public debate will be organized using a video conference.
“The draft law has numerous proposals that narrow our rights on information from state bodies. It also restricts the work of investigative journalists and the non-governmental sector,” the signatories to the letter said, referring to the proposed law.
The government proposed the draft law in March 2019. It would allow it to declare any information “classified” if its disclosure would affect a government body’s ability to function.
It also removes controls over the ways in which state bodies declare information classified. Civic organizations, media groups and opposition parties have insisted that the amendments are not in line with the Montenegrin constitution, or with international agreements that the country has signed up to.
The country’s culture of official secrecy has attracted European attention. The European Commission’s 2019 report on Montenegro noted that official secrecy was cited in 68 denied requests for information in 2017, well up from 30 the year before.
It described an increasing practice of declaring requested documents classified, in order to restrict access to information, as a matter of concern. The report also stated that court decisions on access to information are not effectively enforced.
In the COVID-19 pandemic, people are being arrested in Serbia for posting or texting messages that contain information that can be linked with the ongoing health crisis – their actions being classified as acts of spreading panic and causing disorder by spreading fake news. They can face up to three years in prison, or a fine.
It comes as people, independent journalists especially, are subjected to severe limitations of freedom of speech under the excuse of the health crisis, which in some cases has also led to their incarceration.
Looking at all these cases as part of a contextualised story, they clearly expose the authoritarian tendency of the regime in Serbia to curb freedoms far more than is necessary during the state of emergency – no doubt knowing that it will leave behind a lot of fear and intimidation, which will last far longer than any pandemic.
Journalist Ana Lalic. Photo: Vesna Lalic /Nova.rs
Last Wednesday, for example, Ana Lalic, a journalist from the online portal Nova S, was arrested merely for reporting poor conditions in the Vojvodina Clinical Centre. She was released the next day thanks to huge pressure from the media and civil society organisations.
Another important decision followed on Thursday when, on the Serbian President’s request, the government withdrew its earlier decision, issued on March 31 , giving the central Crisis Staff led by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic the exclusive right to inform the public about anything linked with the COVID-19 crisis. This seriously endangered media freedoms.
Before this, the information flow had been put under the full control of the government of a country that has dropped 14 places recently in terms of media freedom to 90th position among 180 countries, according to the global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.
Rule of Law is suffering in COVID-19 outbreak
The rule of law in Serbia was nothing to be proud about already, and the scope of political influence on the judiciary remains a matter of concern. Now, many lawyers and legal experts have warned of the unconstitutionality of decisions issued during the state of emergency, and questioning the state of emergency itself.
The latest statement from the Bar Chamber of Serbia , addressing the constitutionality of the decision to declare a state of emergency, emphasised that the chamber will “always react when they evaluate that there has been a serious disruption of legal state order, which can be dangerous for the legal state functioning”.
But digital rights, and rights to privacy and freedom of expression on the internet all face serious limitations and breaches. In the illiberal democracies of the region, dominated by elements of authoritarian regimes, there is legitimate concern about disproportionate interference in citizens’ personal data and a justified belief that the newly imposed measures are not properly tailored to achieve their objective while minimally damaging guaranteed rights.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Serbia. Photo: EPA-EFE/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC
President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, while introducing the latest measures there, has openly said that the authorities there “see everything”. Those who have entered the country since March 14 are now receiving SMS messages with new rules applying to their situation. We do not have the privilege of being assured that the ongoing tracking and monitoring of individuals and communities is being carried out strictly in line with human rights, however. There is also concern about the future use of the data being collected during this crisis.
Several arrests because of social media posts and account bans have occurred since March 30, while, on the other hand, a page called “COVID 19 Serbia” – which targets journalists and government opponents with sponsored posts during the crisis – functions normally. It is obvious some people are being permitted to use this global disease in the most disgraceful way to hurt others.
The case of the Nova S journalist happened in a certain context, and in an atmosphere where journalists’ right to put questions to the government has been limited, and shortly after the decision was made on controlling the flow of information.
Human rights organisations have issued a joint statement calling on governments to refrain from taking unbalanced measures that violate human rights. The European Union Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, has said: “Challenges that governments face during the COVID-19 pandemic are no excuse for clamping down on press freedom and restricting access to information”.
Unprecedented challenges in countering #COVID19 are no excuse to clamp down on press & restrict access to information. All @coe states shld preserve #PressFreedom & ensure that measures vs disinformation are necessary, proportionate & subject to oversight https://t.co/0P0ZRsaTU4pic.twitter.com/woMsKaZLS0
— Commissioner for Human Rights (@CommissionerHR) April 3, 2020
The announcement of the withdrawal of the decision on the information flow – only two days after it was declared – and the release of the journalist Lalic – have been presented as acts of mercy and kindness on the part of the President when more important tasks face the country at the moment.
While the decision was still in force, however, another arrest occurred, of a 34-year-old man, this time for posting a tweet. He was detained on suspicion of spreading panic and causing disorder by allegedly spreading fake news on Twitter saying that Serbia would impose a 24-hour curfew. The man was released the next day, after he told police he was not the author of the fake news and only got the information from his wife who works at the construction, transport and infrastructure ministry.
A day before his arrest, Serbia’s Interior Minister warned citizens that disinformation was circulating on social networks about the alleged new 24-hour curfew, while the tabloid Informer claimed that this fake news was being spread via SMS, and published a number from which the message supposedly arrived.
This text was removed on Wednesday, and replaced with the new one, after users of Telekom Serbia mobile provider received a message about the “Dramatic situation in Serbia” sent to them on the request of central Crisis Staff for COVID-19 suppression – from the same number that Informer had first claimed was used to send the message about “24-hour curfew”.
Real paradise for pro-government media
Before the health crisis finally erupted in Serbia, pro-government media were accusing the opposition and independent-minded people of spreading panic and frightening the public with the pandemic.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic started to really affect Serbia, they rapidly changed their tune – but kept the same authentic style.
Some of the headlines related to coronavirus published on the front page of Informer daily newspaper – “Corona in Serbia under complete control” (top left); “Sick plan of SZS (Alliance for Serbia), spreading lies about coronavirus and migrants in order to postpone the elections and take Vucic down” (top right); “Coronavirus escaped from the laboratory” (down left); “Dr Branimir Nestorovic explained: Coronavirus is ridiculous! No need to wear masks” (down right). Photo: BIRN/Novinarnica.net
At a press conference on Thursday, for example, when the pro-government media asked the President questions, they insulted the journalist Lalic and the portal she works for. Dragan Vucicevic, editor of Serbia’s most popular tabloid, even expressed concern that her release might officially legitimise the publication of fake news in Serbia – tough talk from a man whose media outlet has routinely used published unverified and fake information, and which has been proved to be a pro-government biased news factory!
President Vucic reminded all journalists that, besides the criminal code , Serbia has norms that regulate the responsibilities of journalists and the media (Section 5, Article 38-41) and other individuals for fake news distribution and spreading and causing panic among the public (Article 343).
But one might argue that certain rules seem applicable only to regular citizens – and to media that report on government wrongdoings.
Not limited to one country
As usual, bad trends in the Balkans never emerge only in one country. Arrests for posts on social media and articles, removal of content from websites, or even removal of whole websites, banning accounts, and limitations on journalistic work are all happening in other countries in the region as well.
Additionally, citizens’ personal data and lists of names of infected people are being shared on the internet – and no one is being prosecuted for such activities.
The latest example of this type of violation in Serbia comes from the northern municipality of Sid, which published the personal data of a citizen confirmed as infected with COVID-19. That person’s initials, age, address and workplace were all published on the municipal website.
False information about the virus is spread each day in the Balkans. In a region with poor media literacy, citizens are deceived in the most senseless way at a time when they are most vulnerable. Journalists and individuals who try to report on the under-reported cases are portrayed as enemies of the fight against the virus.
The health of each person is, and must be, our priority at this time – but that should not mean it has to be constantly confronted with the health of our freedoms.
For more information and the latest updates on arbitrary arrests, emergency legislation to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, surveillance, phone tapping, privacy breaches and other digital rights violations, visit the Digital Rights in the Time of COVID-19 page on BIRN’s Investigative Resource Desk.
The rights organisation Transparency International, TI, in Bosnia and Herzegovina has called on Zeljka Cvijanovic, President of the Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska, to withdraw a decree banning the spread of panic and disorder during a state of emergency, saying that the Bosnia’s constitution does not allow the entities to suspend the right to freedom of expression and opinion.
In Republika Srpska, a decree with the force of law prohibiting the spread of panic and disorder during a state of emergency came into force on Tuesday.
The decree, which follows the introduction of the state of emergency in the entity, stipulates fines of 500 to 4,500 euros for individuals and companies that spread panic and fake news through the media and social networks. Opposition parties in the RS describe the regulation as controversial.
The Board of Directors of the Association of Bosnian Journalists has meanwhile called on both Bosnian entities to ensure unhindered access to information and decisions regarding the COVID-19 epidemic in a safe and free manner, without imposing any restrictions, censorship or restrictions on journalists.
“Such an approach calls for the urgent withdrawal of decisions and regulations with legal force concerning the restriction of freedom of expression and opinion in the media and on social networks, as well as the abolition of the power of individuals, police and other security agencies to censor the media and citizens, with rapid investigations or the imposition of very high fines, as in Republika Srpska,” the Association said in a press release.
The current RS decree is almost identical to the earlier ruling banning panic and fake news that the RS government adopted on March 19.
One of the first individuals fined for violating the decree is a medical doctor, Maja Stojic Dragojevic, who is also a member of the Presidency of the largest opposition party in the RS, the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS. She was fined for writing on Facebook that there were not enough ventilators, beds, or intensive care services in the RS, and for claiming that the RS was unprepared for what is to come.
The Association of Bosnian Journalists has also warned that the government of Bosnia’s other entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through its Ministry of the Interior and cyber-crime units, had begun monitoring information on social networks, and that five criminal proceedings had since been instituted for allegedly spreading false information and panic.
“Regardless of the emergency, it is against all democratic values to impose institutional censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression and information and to give broad authority to individuals engaged in crisis staffs or police and security agencies to interpret and ‘regulate’ journalistic rights and media freedoms according to their standards,” the association said.
The Journalists’ Association has said it will invite international organisations and European institutions for the protection of freedom of expression to respond to the censorship of information about COVID-19 in Bosnia.
The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, recently said measures to combat misinformation should not be abused to hinder media freedom. She warned that freedom of the media was being suppressed in several countries under the pretext of combating misinformation about the coronavirus.
Montenegro’s Prosecutor’s Office said the medical staffer in the Health Centre in the capital Podgorica, known only by the initials M.R., had been arrested by police for the crime of unauthorized collection and use of personal information.
“As an official, he is in charge of publishing information on COVID-19 patients through the IDO system, which he forwarded via Viber to other persons who, although his colleagues, are not authorized to dispose of this information,” the Prosecution said in a press release.
After the list of names of infected people and their ID numbers was published on Friday, the Montenegrin government demanded an investigation, which the Prosecutor’s Office led.
Civil society organizations and opposition parties also agreed that publishing the names of infected patients on social media violated their basic human rights and could lead to serious consequences. “We have to respect people’s privacy and stop the stigmatization of infected citizens,” the Civic Alliance, an NGO, said.
That was not the first time patients’ rights in Montenegro were violated in this way. On March 18, the identities of coronavirus patients were published by social media users and the photos of one patient and her family were also posted online.
The government said it had received the consent of the Agency for Personal Data Protection for this, and had decided that the lives and health of Montenegrin citizens came first. Despite concerns voiced by opposition parties and civil society groups, the government has continued to publish such lists.
There have been 248 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the country of some 630,000 people so far, two of whom have died.
Citing the fight against COVID-19, authorities in a number of Central and Eastern European countries have extended the amount of time state bodies have to respond to freedom of information, FOI, requests, part of what media watchdogs say is a worrying crackdown on press freedom since the onset of the pandemic.
Media regulations across the region have been tightened under states of emergency and journalists have been arrested on accusations of spreading misinformation concerning the response of authorities to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Some countries have sought to centralise the dissemination of official information and banned certain media from regular briefings.
FOI requests, a vital tool for journalists, have also fallen victim to the virus response; in Moldova, public officials have been allowed to decide alone whether or not to respond, while in Serbia, officials can refuse to respond to questions that are not related to the pandemic. In some cases, state bodies have been told they can delay responding until after a state of emergency has been lifted.
The measures have come in for criticism from rights organisations and raised suspicion that governments are trying to avoid public scrutiny of their response to the pandemic, which in many countries has been slow, chaotic and hampered by shortages of protective equipment for frontline medical staff.
Governments have an obligation to “ensure that measures to combat disinformation are necessary, proportionate and subject to regular oversight,” Dunja Mijatovic, human rights commissioner at the Council of Europe said on Friday.
Describing access to information as a “collateral victim” of government responses, Mijatovic said: “Despite the fact that timely information is essential for the public to understand the danger and adopt measures at a personal level to protect themselves, the filtering of information and delays in responses to freedom of information requests have been observed in several member states.”
Her statement followed a letter to the CoE from ten rights organisations that promote press freedoms and freedom of speech, among them Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists, urging the 47-member body to take urgent measures against countries they accused of exploiting the crisis to curb essential freedoms.
Deadlines extended in Romania and Moldova
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. Photo: EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT.
In European Union member Romania, President Klaus Iohannis signed a decree on March 16 declaring a 30-day state of emergency, which included a provision doubling the amount of time state institutions have to answer FOI requests.
Media outlets including Dela0.ro have reported that several local branches Health Ministry departments have cited the fight against COVID-19 in refusing to provide information to journalists or deferred questions to the communications office created by the Interior Ministry to centralise information about the crisis.
Likewise in neighbouring Moldova, authorities on Friday tripled the amount of time public bodies have to respond to FOI requests, from 15 days to 45. Media researcher and Independent Press Association, API, journalist Mariana Jacot told BIRN that when she had asked for public information from the Health Ministry she was told that ministry officials have more important things to deal with.
FOI right postponed in Serbia
In Serbia, the government has also extended the deadlines for state institutions to respond to a range of requests, including FOI requests to which institutions now have 30 days to respond once the state of emergency in the country is lifted.
Last week, for example, the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications told BIRN it would respond to an FOI request submitted by BIRN, “within the legal deadlines upon the termination of the state of emergency.”
Serbia’s Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Milan Marinovic, welcomed the government’s measure in a statement on March 25.
Marinovic, who was nominated to the post last year by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party of President Aleksandar Vucic, said the move addressed a “number of concerns regarding the course and the calculation of deadlines during a state of emergency.”
His predecessor, however, questioned the way in which the measure was adopted.
“The government can adopt that regulation only when the parliament cannot meet due to objective reasons,” Rodoljub Sabic told BIRN. “The notion that parliament sessions cannot be held now is completely unsustainable, it is complete legal nonsense.”
The Serbian parliament was dissolved on March 15 after the government banned all gatherings of more than 50 people.
Referring to the trade ministry’s response to the BIRN FOI request, Sabic said: “Your right has practically been postponed.”
“Of course they can answer you. The regulation does not ban it, it only extends the deadlines. If they want, they can answer you.”
“Unfortunately, the regulation puts them in a position where they don’t have to answer the request. They can postpone your right until the state of emergency is over,” he said. “It all comes down to that body’s goodwill.”
Public debate in Montenegro amid pandemic
Delia Matilde Ferreira Rubio, chair of the board of directors of Transparency International. Photo: EPA-EFE/ALESSANDRO DELLA VALLE.
In Montenegro, rights groups have deplored a decision by the government to press ahead with public consultation on proposed amendments to the country’s law on access to information despite the restrictions imposed on public life amid the pandemic.
On March 31, civil society organisations and journalists called for a postponement, arguing that the lockdown had made participatory debate impossible.
The following day, the chair of Transparency International, Delia Ferreira Rubio, warned that any non-emergency legislative measure that requires public consultation should be postponed until full, active participation can be guaranteed.
Nevertheless, the Ministry of Public Administration called for written comments on the amendments to be submitted via the ministry’s official e-mail address by April 13.
The non-governmental Institute Alternative, which promotes good governance and democracy in Montenegro, urged the ministry to wait until the pandemic had passed.
“There is no reason to rush and have a bad discussion during the pandemic,” Stevo Muk said in a press release on April 3. “Especially since neither the government nor the parliament is functioning in a regular way.”
This article was changed on April 7 to amend the time Moldovan authorities have to respond to FOI requests.
Twitter has removed almost 9,000 accounts that were “working to promote Serbia’s ruling party”, the Serbian Progressive Party said on Thursday.
“Toward the end of last year, we identified clusters of accounts engaged in inauthentic coordinated activity which led to the removal of 8,558 accounts working to promote Serbia’s ruling party and its leader,” Twitter announced.
Toward the end of last year, we identified clusters of accounts engaged in inauthentic coordinated activity which led to the removal of 8,558 accounts working to promote Serbia’s ruling party and its leader.
The social networking company explained that it had updated its archive of “state-backed information operations with some recent account networks we’ve removed from our service”.
These identified and removed accounts were all associated with five countries: Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.
Serbia was by far the top country in terms of the number of removed accounts, numbering 8,558. Twitter removed 5,350 accounts associated with Saudi Arabia, 3,104 linked to Honduras, 2,541 accounts linked to Egypt and 795 fake accounts linked to Indonesia.
“These behaviors are in violation of our policies and are a targeted attempt to undermine the public conversation”, Twitter explained.
The company also said it was “making publicly available archives of Tweets and media that we believe resulted from potentially state-backed information operations on our service”.
Under Twitter’s policy on manipulation and spam, “coordinated activity that attempts to artificially influence conversations through the use of multiple accounts, fake accounts, automation and/or scripting” is not allowed.
Media in Serbia have often reported that online activists of the Serbian Progressive Party, so called “bots”, are very active on social networks. Some are reportedly employees of state-owned companies or public institutions.
Serbian authorities have promised to withdraw a new regulation concerning the information flow about the pandemic after a journalist was arrested for reporting poor conditions in an important hospital.
Ana Lalic, who was released from custody on Thursday, was arrested on Wednesday and placed in 48-hours of police custody following publication of her article about conditions in the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina, Serbia’s northern province.
Her media outlet Nova.rs published the text, “KC Vojvodina about to crack: No protection for nurses”, on Wednesday. The article claimed the institution lacked basic equipment and had “chaotic working conditions at the time of the pandemic“.
Lalic claimed she tried to get comments on this from hospital officials and also from the provincial secretariat for health, but none of them responded.
The hospital issued an angry press release following the article, denying her report and announcing that it had informed the prosecutor’s office and the police “due to public disturbance and damage to its reputation”.
Lalic was detained on the first day of the application of new rule that says all information from local institutions about the pandemic must go to central Crisis Staff in Belgrade, led by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. This alone can can further share information with the public. The government’s decision also applies to the work of the media.
“Information on health measures taken and other information related to the treatment of COVID-19 … given to the public by unauthorized persons, cannot be considered accurate and verified,” the measure says, noting “the possibility of applying regulations relating to liability and legal consequences for the spread of misinformation in a state of emergency.”
However, on Thursday, Brnabic said the government would withdraw the decision, blaming herself for any confusion caused.
“It is my fault that we brought in something like this and it is also my stupidity that when we brought it in, I did not explain it,” Brnabic told to Radio Television of Serbia, concerning the regulation.
Only hours after Nova.rs published Lalic’s article, police came to her home in Novi Sad. Her lawyer, Srdjan Kovacevic, said she was ordered to stay in Novi Sad police station for 48 hours “on suspicion that she could repeat the crime, publishing texts that cause panic and disorder”.
“They searched her apartment and kept a laptop and two mobile phones – official and private. They then brought her to the police station”, Kovacevic told to Nova.rs. He then said Lalic would stay in custody until her hearing.
Singling out Hungary, Slovenia and the Czech Republic as especially worrying examples, ten human rights organisations including Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders have written to the Council of Europe and other official bodies, urging them to address the danger of governments misusing the coronavirus crisis to pursue authoritarian policies.
“Several governments across Europe are already using the pandemic to claim extraordinary powers that can undermine democratic institutions, including the free press,” the organisations said. “We believe that some Council of Europe Member States are at risk of derogating from the European Convention on Human Rights,” they noted.
Among the concerns expressed in the letter is an emergency law that aims to tackle false information by penalties of up to five years in jail, limits to press conferences introduced in several countries and an outright ban on them in Slovenia and the Czech Republic. “Such measures must not be allowed to restrict media scrutiny of governments,” the ten organisations say.
They say governments across the world have pushed the boundaries of what they are allowed to do during the COVID-19 crisis, adopting measures including the almost unchecked use of private data collected by mobile phone networks and, in some cases, use of facial recognition surveillance systems that were allegedly conceived before the crisis to tackle dissident activity.
“Our organisations are concerned about the effects of enhanced surveillance measures introduced to monitor the spread of the virus,” the letter said.
“While we recognise the potential benefits in terms of combating the spread of the virus, the use of surveillance must have proper oversight and be clearly limited to tackling the pandemic,” it added.
The letter has been signed by ARTICLE 19, the Association of European Journalists, AEJ, the Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, ECPMF, the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, the Free Press Unlimited, FPU, Index on Censorship, the International Federation of Journalists, IFJ, International Press Institute, IPI and Reporters Without Borders, RSF.
All local crisis headquarters and medical institutions in Serbia must send any information about the coronavirus pandemic to the central Crisis Staff led by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic – which will then inform the public about anything regarding COVID-19, the government in Belgrade has decided.
“Mayors and municipal presidents and emergency staffs of local government units are obliged to direct all information regarding the condition and consequences of COVID-19 … exclusively to the [national] Crisis Staff, which will carry out the necessary checks and take appropriate measures to inform the public in a timely and accurate manner,” the decision taken on Sunday says.
“Information on health measures taken and other information related to the treatment of COVID-19 … given to the public by unauthorized persons cannot be considered accurate and verified,” the government added by way of explanation, going on to warn of the “possibility of applying regulations relating to liability and legal consequences for the spread of misinformation in a state of emergency.”
As a result, local crisis headquarters in Serbia may no longer inform local communities of developments directly. Media outlets on Tuesday were also notified that they will no longer can get information from local authorities directly.
Dejan Kovacevic, president of the municipality of Gornji Milanovac, told a press conference that while he understood the new rules, local government units will still hold press conferences “as needed about what they have done, and are doing, to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Some NGOs in Serbia have voiced unease with the move to control the flow of information, saying that the solution is not in line with the advice of United Nations experts, or of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has called for journalists to be allowed to work without obstacles “in order to provide citizens with access to key information”.
Serbia imposed state of emergency on March 15. By April 1, 23 people had died from complications caused by COVID-19 and 900 cases of infection were confirmed in total.
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