October 2020

Montenegrin Jailed for Insulting Defence Minister on Facebook

Posted on October 30, 2020January 26, 2023 by ivana.nikolic

The Montenegrin misdemeanour court on Thursday sentenced Milan Roncevic from Podgorica to 15 days in jail for insulting Defence Minister Predrag Boskovic in a Facebook post.

Roncevic was arrested after he posted a photo of environmental protests against army training exercises on Mount Sinjajevina in Montenegro and said that the minister “is worse than a pig”.

“Roncevic was sentenced to 15 days in prison for violating the Law on Public Order and Peace. This is insulting and insolent behaviour to the detriment of Montenegrin Defence Minister Predrag Boskovic,” the court said.

On October 16, environmental activists and local community members started protests on Mount Sinjajevina, near the town of Kolasin, calling on the government to stop the militarisation of the highland pastures.

Protesters warned that they intended to disrupt a military training session announced for this week, claiming that the explosives used would devastate the local environment.

On October 20, Montenegro’s Defence Ministry postponed the military training exercises on Mount Sinjajevina. On Wednesday, minister Boskovic said that protests were being misused by political parties.

“The protests in Sinjajevina are not environmental. Some people are just trying to threaten our pro-Western policies,” Boskovic told Radio Monenegro.

Since January, there have been several arrests in Montenegro linked to posts on social networks.

On August 26, police arrested a suspect identified by the initials R.R. from the town of Danilovgrad for insulting Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic and ruling Democratic Party of Socialists MP Petar Ivanovic on Facebook.

On April 9, police arrested an opposition Democratic Front activist for posting fake news about the health of President Djukanovic, claiming he had the coronavirus. Radovan Rakocevic, from the town of Bijelo Polje, was put in custody for 72 hours for spreading panic.

On July 20, Montenegrin police questioned a civic activist and member of the Odupri Se (Resist) movement, Omer Sarkic, for a Facebook post about the anti-government protests in Serbia.

In an ironic post, Sarkic called on the pro-Serbian Democratic Front to stage protests in front of the Serbian embassy in Podgorica over police brutality against protesters in Belgrade.

He cited a fictional press release which claimed that the Democratic Front was was vowing to resist police brutality in Serbia as it does in Montenegro.

Kosovo Political Activist ‘Misled Authorities’ to Get Media Commission Job

Posted on October 28, 2020January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Granit Musliu, who was elected as a member of the Independent Media Commission by MPs in the Kosovo Assembly on Monday, was recently active in the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, contrary to regulations prohibiting recent political involvement, BIRN has learned.

The IMC, which is responsible for the regulation, management and oversight of broadcasting frequencies in Kosovo, is under the direct authority of the Kosovo Assembly.

To be considered as a member, a candidate should not have been actively engaged in politics in the past two years. However, BIRN found that Musiu had been politically active as deputy head of the PDK’s youth wing in Skenderaj/Srbica and had participated in a PDK meeting this year.

Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party MP Agon Batusha raised the issue on Tuesday at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government, Public Administration, Regional Development and Media, arguing that Musliu should be dismissed from the IMC.

“We realised he had been active until the beginning of the pandemic. We as the Commission have been misled,” said Batusha.

The chairman of the IMC, PDK MP Mergim Lushtaku, said that he was informed that Musliu “resigned in September last year” from the position of deputy chairman of the PDK’s Democratic Youth of Kosovo.

But Valon Ramadani, an IMC member from Vetevendosje party, said that a report published on BIRN Kosovo’s Kallxo.com website made Musliu’s political affiliations with the PDK clear.

“I congratulate Kallxo.com that they did the news in such a way that they left us no doubts at all,” said Ramadani.

Concern over Moldova Cyber Security As Election Looms

Posted on October 28, 2020January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

As the campaign for Moldova’s presidential election intensifies, so too does the rate of cyberattacks on state institutions in the former Soviet republic, torn between Russia and the West.

But while Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, says it is working to disrupt cyberattacks, critics say more needs to be done to confront the scourge of fake news and disinformation.

“Moldova does not have a strategy to tackle propaganda, nor clear policies for the protection of the information space,” said Cornelia Cozonac, head of the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Moldova.

“Moldovan politicians are not even trying to take over similar research-based guidelines from the Baltic States, for example.”

Individual hackers

In an interview for Moldpres, SIS director Alexandr Esaulenco said that election campaigns in Moldova frequently brought an “intensification” of cyberattacks on state bodies handling the electoral process.

In written comments to BIRN, the SIS described four types of attacks since 2015 – denial of service, or DDOS, phishing via state e-mail, brute-force attacks trying to gain access to government information systems and the hijacking of official web pages.

“These activities aim to stop or hinder the conduct of the electoral process, but in all these cases, we act proactively to prevent their success,” Esaulenco told Moldpres.

In an interview with tribuna.md in October, Sergiu Popovici, the director of the government Information Technology and Cyber Security Service, STISC, said most attacks were the work of individual hackers, “who try out their criminal talent on randomly selected electoral processes.”

‘Real propaganda’

Esaulenco, a 43-year-old major general, previously worked as a security adviser to Moldova’s pro-Russian president, Igor Dodon.

A person scrolls the screen of a mobile phone while loading information on how to counter ‘fake news’ in New Delhi, India, May 2, 2019. Photo: EPA/Harish Tyagi

Dodon is bidding for a second term in next month’s election but faces a strong challenge from pro-European candidate Maia Sandu.

The SIS press office told BIRN that, while it confronts the threat of cyberattacks, its future focus would be more on disinformation and propaganda.

Torn between integrating with the West or remaining in Russia’s orbit, Moldova has proven particularly vulnerable to outside propaganda, particularly against NATO, the European Union and the international community in general.

The SIS said that during the COVID-19 state-of-emergency in the spring, it closed some 61 websites and news portals deemed to be spreading propaganda and fake news regarding the pandemic.

But Petru Macovei, executive director of the Independent Press Association, API, said SIS did not go far enough.

“It was a facade with the closure of those sites, to justify themselves that their activity was not in vain during the state of emergency caused by the pandemic,” Macovei told BIRN. “Indeed, it was neither effective nor sufficient.”

These “were selective decisions,” he said, “because the real propaganda was not affected by that SIS measure.”

By ‘real propaganda,’ many experts in Moldova mean Russian media outlets that broadcast in Moldova with a distinctively anti-Western tone.

“Russian media in Moldova like Komsomolskaya Pravda or Sputnik every day have at least one anti-EU and NATO news and some about Ukraine,” said Cozonac.

Strategy lacking

Elena Marzac, executive director of the Information and Documentation Centre on NATO, IDC NATO, said that COVID-19 crisis and the economic fallout were “gradually turning into a security crisis.”

The executive director of the IDC NATO in Moldova, Elena Marzac. Photo: Facebook

“Besides classic disinformation there are also the cyberattacks, both elements of hybrid warfare,” Marzac told BIRN.

“Also, the narratives circulating in the international space, but also the regional and national one are strongly influenced by geopolitics, and the main promoting actors in that sense are China and Russia.”

Moldova has made some progress towards establishing the legal basis for a better information security strategy, but experts agree there is still much to be done.

“It is too early to talk about the existence in Moldova of an integrated and effective national mechanism for preventing and combating cybersecurity incidents and cybercrime,” said Marzac.

Serbia ‘Still Investigating’ Police Attacks on Journalists at Protests

Posted on October 27, 2020January 26, 2023 by ivana.nikolic

The Serbian Interior Ministry said in a letter to the Council of Europe’s Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists that it has not yet identified who attacked journalists from N1 TV, the Nova news website and Beta news agency during protests in the capital Belgrade in July.

“Concerning the allegations about the attempt to prevent N1 TV crew and journalist Jelena Zoric from reporting and inflicting injuries to a journalist of Nova portal, we would like to inform that the Sector for Internal Control of the Ministry of the Interior is working on collection information as requested by the competent prosecutor’s office,” said the letter that was sent on October 19 and made public on Monday.

The ministry said that police investigated “allegations related to events of 8 July 2020 (injuries inflicted to Nova portal journalist Marko Radonjic and attack on Nova portal journalists Milica Bozinovic and Natasa Latkovic)” and “established that they were not reported or recorded following the procedure prescribed by the law, and that no further actions were taken”.

“Regarding the injuries inflicted to Beta News Agency journalist, Zikica Stevanovic, we would like to inform that a report on this event was submitted to the competent prosecutor’s office in Belgrade, as well as that additional measures have been taken to identify the perpetrator of this criminal offence,” the letter added.

The protests erupted in July in Belgrade and other cities after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that a curfew would be reimposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Protesters clashed with riot police, who used tear gas and cavalry. BIRN mapped major violent incidents that occurred in first two days of protests.

Several journalists were on the receiving end of attacks from both police and protesters.

Some of them, like Stevanovic from Beta, claimed they identified themselves as journalists and showed identity documents to police, but that did not stop officers beating them. Domestic and international journalists’ organisations urged the authorities to find the perpetrators.

According to the Interior Ministry’s letter, police have found the people who attacked journalists from public broadcasters Radio Television of Vojvodina in and Radio Television of Serbia in the cities of Novi Sad and Nis.

In Novi Sad, police filed criminal charges against two people who participated in breaking glass in the front door of the Radio Television of Vojvodina offices, and caught the person who attacked Radio Television of Serbia journalists Milan Srdic and cameraman Lazar Vukadinovic.

In Nis, the ministry said that Radio Television of Serbia journalist Lidija Georgijeva and cameraman Ivan Stambolic had decided not to file a complaint.

Facebook Urged to Ban Srebrenica Genocide Denial

Posted on October 27, 2020January 26, 2023 by ivana.nikolic

After Facebook announced earlier this month that it is updating its hate speech policy to ban holocaust denial, the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada sent an open letter to the social network’s co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, asking for a similar ban on the denial of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

“We have increasingly witnessed that your Facebook platform is being used for continuous, organised and systematic denial of the Srebrenica genocide,” the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada said in the letter.

The institute’s director, Emir Ramic, told BIRN that this would do a lot for truth, justice and the culture of remembrance.

“Attempts to deny or mitigate the genocide in Srebrenica should be banned, just like the glorification of violent events including the Holocaust,” Ramic said.

Facebook told BIRN that it could not give an official statement on the initiative to ban Srebrenica genocide denial, but pointed out that it already has policies that prohibit the praise of any hate crime or mass murder, the mocking of victims of such crimes, and the promotion of the organisations or individuals that perpetrated them.

“We also remove attacks against people based on their protected characteristics, including ethnicity and national origin,” Facebook said in response to BIRN’s inquiry.

“The change we announced… is to acknowledge that Holocaust denial is a type of hate speech that goes beyond denying and distorting facts about a genocide and is used to attack and direct hate at the Jewish people,” it added.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the ban on holocaust denial in a post on Facebook on October 12.

“We’ve long taken down posts that praise hate crimes or mass murders, including the Holocaust. But with rising anti-Semitism, we’re expanding our policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust at all,” Zuckerberg wrote.

“If people search for the Holocaust on Facebook, we’ll start directing you to authoritative sources to get accurate information,” he added.

Numerous groups distorting the facts about the Srebrenica genocide remain on the social network, spreading misinformation, using hate speech in posts and allowing hate speech in comments. The phenomenon is particularly prominent around the anniversary of the genocide in July each year.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, told BIRN that it was positive for Facebook to treat holocaust denial as hate speech and that she hopes that the social network and similar companies will adopt the same approach to content “denying other genocides, including the Srebrenica genocide”.

“However, those companies should not be the only ones making an effort, but governments and judiciary should do their part as well,” Mijatovic said.

“Some countries, like Germany, have already adopted laws tightening the rule on how social network platforms must oppose hate speech and other illegal content. Some countries also ban genocide denial, online or offline,” she added.

The massacres of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys from Srebrenica and the expulsion of tens of thousands of women, children and elderly people have been classified by Bosnian and international courts as genocide.

However, Bosnia and Herzegovina itself does not have legislation criminalising Srebrenica genocide denial, and Bosnian Serb political leaders in the country refuse to accept that the massacres constituted genocide.

North Macedonia’s 5G Plans Put China’s Friendship at Risk

Posted on October 27, 2020January 26, 2023 by ivana.nikolic

North Macedonia on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on security issues linked with new telecommunications technologies, which is expected to indirectly bar China’s tech giants, Huawei and ZTE from the race in the country to build 5G.

“We have an obligation to align our telecommunications development policies with those of the EU as well as to align the security aspects of the implementation of the 5G network with our strategic ally, the US. This memorandum is of vital importance for the economic development and the security as North Macedonia and the United States accent the importance of encouraging participation of relevant and trustworthy network suppliers of 5G hardware and software”, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said during the signing ceremony with the US Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, Keith Krach.

The authorities also say that parliament by the end of this year should change its Electronic Communication Law and other accompanying legislation to embed stricter rules against acquiring 5G equipment from so-called “untrusted” sources.

While leaders of North Macedonia, which only joined NATO earlier this year and is looking to start EU accession talks by the year’s end, say they will strictly abide by the alliance’s security protocols on 5G, the message will not resonate well with traditionally friendly China, whose firms, including Huawei, have a significant stake in its economy.

NATO membership puts security issues under spotlight

Digital security generally, and China’s role in the development of the 5G network and infrastructure specifically, became an issue towards the end of last year, as North Macedonia awaited ratification of its NATO accession protocol.

When NATO membership became reality in March this year, these concerns continued to make themselves felt, especially because the majority owner of North Macedonia’s largest telecom operator, Makedonski Telekom AD, is the Hungarian firm Matav, which in turn is part of Deutsche Telecom – a company that has cooperated extensively with Huawei.

By the start of this year, Makedonski Telekom had started preparing a tendering procedure to acquire 5G equipment, and Huawei was, and seems to remain, an important possible supplier.

As only a minority owner of Makedonski Telekom, the North Macedonian government had only limited influence in any decisions on development of a 5G network.

But this may change, authorities recently hinted, when announcing tougher rules on who might be allowed to supply 5G equipment to operators.

The decision to sign the memorandum with the US was reached at the most recent meeting of the National Security Council last month, chaired by President Stevo Pendarovski and attended by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. It also saw an action plan laid out in broad terms.

The plan says that North Macedonia should now change its Electronic Communication Law and accompanying legislation, hopefully by the year’s end, so that the state Agency for Electronic Communication, AEK, can launch a tendering procedure for offering 5G bands to telecom operators under the new, stricter rules.

“All operators in this sphere should take into account our national interests and obligations,” the President’s office said, adding that the Memorandum of Understanding with the US is setting the main political path that the country will follow, in other words, expressing a political will.

“Then we will need to operationalise it, and change the Electronic Communications law and a series of other laws, because so far they did not contain such restraining acts.

“We will of course also have to remain in line with the [NATO] alliance’s recommendations in future,” the presidential cabinet said.

Informal pressure on North Macedonia to align itself on 5G with its allies seemed to intensify after neighbouring Kosovo and Serbia signed US-brokered agreements on economic normalisation on September 4 in the White House.

US President Donald Trump on that occasion praised both sides for committing themselves not to use 5G equipment from China, saying they had helped make the region and the world more secure.

This was seen as sending a message to other Balkan countries as well.

While the debate on China and 5G is ongoing within the EU, where some major countries, like Germany, are reluctant to cut ties to China’s technology giants, NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has been clear. All member states need to align themselves on the issue and exclude “suspicious” tech companies from the 5G area, he has said.

North Macedonia’s pro-western PM reflected that message last month.

“We are the newest NATO member and will act according to NATO’s security standards. Institutional decisions are yet to follow,” Zaev told the media when asked about the matter.

Silhouette of visitor next to the logo of Huawei at the International Consumer Electronics Fair in Berlin in September. Photo: EPA-EFE/FILIP SINGER

Huawei’s likely success in tender worries government

North Macedonia has no active 5G network in use as yet. Makedonski Telekom and A1, the two main telecom operators, “currently … are only conducting testing of this new technology”, Saso Dimitrijoski, head of the AEK, said.

But the country as yet has no legal restrictions on which equipment telecom operators should use. That is why, when Makedonski Telekom earlier this year launched a tendering procedure for such equipment, Huawei was seen as a prime contender.

This raised concerns in the government, with its 35 per cent stake in the Makedonski Telekom, and among its members on Telekom’s supervisory board.

“We are not the dominant owner but we are still taking this matter seriously,” a senior representative from the Ministry of Information Technology told BIRN on condition of anonymity.

Unofficially, after receiving reports that Huawei was the best-positioned company to win the Telekom tender, the government’s members on the Telekom board last month raised this issue with the company, calling for restraint until the new, expected legislation is passed.

Dimitrijoski, from the AEK, called on the country’s telecom operators “to practice restraint for now and not rush decisions on purchasing equipment, as this might prove counterproductive if they have to replace it”.

He said AEK plans to organise a public tendering procedure to allocate currently available radiofrequencies to operators – hopefully by this year – but only once all regulation in this field is completed.

A government source speaking under condition of anonymity said the new legislation would likely not explicitly exclude China, or any other named companies, but set rules effectively barring companies with dubious images from applying.

“This could be done by simply setting the rules for participation of companies to a higher standard,” the source noted.

“For instance, it could prohibit companies that have conducted themselves unethically in the past, have no clear ownership structure or which come from the countries lacking proper democratic oversight,” the source concluded.

North Macedonia’s Vice Prime Minister Artan Grubi (right) discussed 5G with the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Zuo (left) on September 21. Photo: gov.mk

Ambassador rails against US interference

The task of relaying the potentially unpleasant news to China has fallen on Vice Prime Minister Artan Grubi who discussed this issue with the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Zuo, on September 21.

China has traditionally good political relations with North Macedonia, and some of its companies are involved in key infrastructure projects.

North Macedonia tapped into a Chinese loan of 574 million euros fin 2013, to build two important stretches of motorway, for example.

The Chinese construction company, Sinohydro, is still involved in building 57-kilometre highway from the southern lakeside resort of Ohrid to Skopje via Kicevo.

A short government press statement from that September 21 meeting said only that Grubi had “expressed interest about the … motorway and asked for all obstacles to be overcome for the project’s swifter completion”.

It added: “Grubi and Zuo also talked about the strategic electronic communication, the 5G network and the obligations we [North Macedonia] have as a NATO member country towards strategic partners.”

The government is under pressure to finish the highway rapidly after inheriting this long-overdue project from the previous government, which was accused of making many technical omissions during the planning stage.

In an interview for the daily Sloboden Pecat newspaper on September 21, the day of the meeting, Chinese ambassador Zuo made clear his unhappiness.

He accused the United States of trying to supress China’s development by finding excuses to sanction Chinese companies like Huawei, which, as he recalled, had operated successfully in North Macedonia for almost ten years.

“We are firmly against this [US pressure],” the ambassador warned. “China hopes for cooperation with all the countries, including with North Macedonia, not only for constructing 5G networks but also in the area of network security.”

Pandemic Pushes Slovakia to Finally Target Disinformation

Posted on October 20, 2020January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Standing on the blue-backed stage of the Globsec Forum in Bratislava on October 7, wearing an elegant black mask coordinated with her dress, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova addressed the main challenges that the pandemic poses to the world and the rule of law.

“It has exposed the real capacities and limitations of our crisis management, which has rested in peace for years,” she said. “Once again, we have seen that the spread of disinformation and hoaxes can be deadly,” she added, pinpointing one of the most pressing issues for her country.

Slovakia has been battling hybrid threats and disinformation for years, with most of the fighting falling on the shoulders of non-governmental activists and information and security experts. This year, however, the destructive power of disinformation manifested itself palpably for the first time.

“Slovakia is not doing a very good job in battling the pandemic at the moment,” admitted Marek Krajci, the Slovak health minister, on October 9, explaining the ever-growing numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the country. “I think the huge disinformation campaign is reflected in the bad results that we’re seeing right now.”

Another major manifestation of the frustration and anger caused by disinformation about COVID was witnessed at the weekend, when hundreds of people joined an unannounced and illegal protest in Bratislava, organised by football hooligans and neo-Nazi groups. Attacking the iron gate of the governmental office compound, they chanted vulgar slogans about the prime minister, threw stones at the police and called for people to ignore the new restrictive measures designed to combat the virus.

While during the first wave of the pandemic Slovakia saw itself as a “winner” of the crisis, largely thanks to the responsible behaviour of the general public, strict early measures and obligatory masks, this autumn has brought a much stronger second wave than the country feared.

According to opinion polls, people in Slovakia are unsure what information about coronavirus they can trust, support for government-mandated restrictive measures has decreased significantly and, ultimately, so has their trust in government leaders.

“It would be easy to blame the media or education systems or the internet for the erosion of citizens’ confidence, but do political leaders today project trust?” President Caputova asked rhetorically at Globsec, opening an important question for her own country, too.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova gives the opening address at the Globsec Bratislava Forum 2020. Photo: Globsec

A good start, but a long way to go

The new Slovak government that came into office in March defined countering disinformation and hybrid threats as one of its main goals for the next four years. In its manifesto, Igor Matovic‘s government named the fight against disinformation as a priority in foreign politics, defence, education and the media.

“The spreading of disinformation and hoaxes endangers the development of a knowledge-based society,” said the program of the new government. “The Government of SR will prepare an action plan for coordinating the fight against hybrid threats and spreading of disinformation, and build adequate centralised capacities to carry it out.”

Almost seven months later, this “action plan” is still a work in progress, the coordination centre is nowhere to be seen and the disinformation agenda is scattered among a few ministries, with no clear unified strategy in place.

“The first key thing that happened is that this theme has finally been addressed politically, and it is being given the proper attention,” Daniel Milo, an analyst at the Globsec Policy Institute, told BIRN.

“In previous years, there were some lonely fighters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or in the police, but there was no systematic support,” he said, adding that while it was good the new cabinet set as an official goal in its program the targeting of disinformation, it has yet to result in any concrete action.

One of the more visible efforts came this summer, when the Health Ministry hired Jakub Goda, a leading journalist focusing on disinformation, to help with its strategic communications. Reacting to the growing “infodemic” surrounding the coronavirus, the ministry is starting to focus on debunking hoaxes and sharing verified information from medical experts via social networks. “In the middle of the pandemic, the urgency of this problem became even clearer,” said Goda in an interview with BIRN earlier this month.

The Health Ministry prepared a short guide on how to see through disinformation about COVID-19, joined an information campaign by public broadcaster RTVS in which a leading expert on infectious diseases talked about the safety of wearing face masks, and recorded a video with COVID-19 patients sharing their personal experiences with the virus.

While the video registered an admirable 600,000 views with over 3,300 shares by October 19, the most viral posts from extremist politicians questioning the coronavirus crisis have been watched several times more, thanks to a developed network of dozens of Slovak Facebook pages that spread disinformation on a regular basis. The fight against disinformation by the Health Ministry is far from over, said Goda, adding that the ministry has already expanded capacities and more people should be hired soon.

Although Goda’s work at the ministry is essential, it is only a first step, experts think. “It is a good step, but to think that a single person will save the strategic communications of a whole ministry in such a big topic is naive,” said Milo.

“Jakub has dealt with these topics for years and I value him as a colleague, but this alone doesn’t stand a chance in stopping the enormous avalanche of lies about COVID-19 that are shared online and on social networks every day,” he explained. “However, he can do his part and maybe he can convince the management at the ministry that the communication and information part is just as important today as the medical measures.”

Another visible and popular vehicle for combatting disinformation is the Slovak police force’s Facebook page dedicated specifically to uncovering hoaxes. During the pandemic, police experts have debunked dozens of lies and manipulative posts about the virus, sharing the verified information with its 85,000 followers. Its most popular videos debunking lies about COVID-19 testing sites or the government preparing a tough lockdown were viewed by between 100,00 and 200,000 people each.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Slovakia is growing exponentially, data shows. Photo: Office of the Government of SR

Saving democracy

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has taken the lead in combatting disinformation in Slovakia, focusing on developing strategic communications with the public. This year it opened a new department to counter hybrid threats and “enforce resilience” in the system.

“We have basically provoked more government activity in this area,” said Imrich Babic, head of the strategic communications department at the Slovak Foreign Ministry. “Now, there is big hope that it becomes more systematic. It is in the legislative plans of different ministries already, so it’s on a good path.”

The Foreign Ministry, it seems, might be the one part of government where most people, including political leaders, understand the importance of having clear and unambiguous messages in communication. Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, the former Slovak ambassador to Washington and Brussels, said in his first press conference in March that there is no doubt about Slovakia’s place in Europe and in the world: its allies are in the West, and its aim is to protect European values and unity.

“It’s a question of strategic importance, of protecting a healthy democracy,” said Marcel Pesko, the special ambassador who is heading up the hybrid threats department at the Foreign Ministry.

“Slovakia is very vulnerable in this sense,” he added, explaining that he thinks it’s due to the combination of history, political communication and the fragile democratic heritage. “Based on all of this, Slovaks are more prone to trusting disinformation.”

Experts at the ministry agree that Slovakia needs to significantly step up its fight against hybrid threats. And that means adopting the “whole of society” approach: reforming the education curriculum, pushing for more control of social networks and forming a centralised coordination mechanism within government. “The process has already started; we just need to frame it now. We would like to create the coordination mechanism by the end of the year,” Pesko told BIRN.

The proposed mechanism should create a system for dealing with hybrid threats, which includes all the ministries as well as other government offices. Its precise form, however, has yet to be decided.

In the meantime, the Foreign Ministry is organising educational programs at universities and schools; setting up workshops for Slovak diplomats and ministry employees; coordinating their policies and communication in strategic areas; and fighting disinformation online, in the media and through direct communication from political leaders.

Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok speaks at a press conference after a government meeting. Photo: Office of the Government of SR

Addressing security threats

Even before COVID-19 spread across Europe, Slovakia had been the target of propaganda campaigns by Russia and China, including various forms of hybrid warfare, according to the Slovak intelligence services.

In August, Slovakia became the 28th EU state to join the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki and the Slovak Defence Ministry has become one of the leaders of the fight against disinformation within the new government.

“The Defence Ministry wants to be active in this area,” Martina Koval Kakascikova, spokeswoman for the ministry, told BIRN. “One of the reasons is that hybrid threats will become a significant part of military operations in the future.”

In October, the ministry hired a special advisor for dealing with hybrid threats, and the communications department has taken on an even bigger role debunking disinformation and hoaxes, too.

“Moreover, the pandemic has reinforced the disinformation narratives, so the Defence Ministry has intensified its strategic communications, whether on social networks or in the field,” said Koval Kakascikova. “We also think exchanging information and experiences in the area of combatting hybrid threats and disinformation with our partners is essential.”

Although public communication from leading politicians in the previous government could be described as chaotic or conflicting at best, there is some evidence that the activities of the individual experts at the foreign and defence ministries has bolstered public support for Slovakia’s membership of NATO and the EU over the past three years. While in 2017 only 43% of Slovaks supported NATO membership, by 2019 that support had grown to 56%, according to a Globsec Trends survey. Eurobarometer, which monitors the evolution of public opinion in all EU member states, confirmed that a steady majority of Slovaks still supports the EU. Trust in liberal democracy and Slovakia’s Western allies, particularly the US, remains a challenge, however.

An additional challenge will come later this month after the Slovak government announced its intention to carry out a mass testing program across the entire country, with the aim of becoming the first country in Europe to pull off such a feat.

Disinformation experts have already warned that anti-COVID and anti-health system campaigns will definitely take off, putting an extra strain on the government’s efforts in trying to persuade people about the benefits of general testing. “In the next two weeks, so-called agitprop will take over – a fast drumming, the more absurd the better,” predicted Infosecurity.sk. “There’s nothing to lose. People are ready to listen.”

To counter this threat effectively, Marcel Pesko, the person heading up the hybrid threats department at the Foreign Ministry, admitted that, “there is still a lot of work to do in this area.”

Although all government experts agree that activists and NGOs have, until now, done a good job in fighting disinformation, they say it’s time the state picks up the baton. “The role of the state can’t be replaced by NGOs or the media,” said Pesko. “It is important to have political will to deal with these topics. And I can see that now.”

Kosovo Leaders Condemn Gun Attack on Journalist’s Car

Posted on October 19, 2020January 26, 2023 by ivana.nikolic

Kosovo civil society and politicians, including the Prime Minister and a former prime minister, have united in condemnation of an attack on a investigative journalist whose car was raked with gunfire on Sunday night just after he parked it.

Shkumbin Kajtazi, from the media outlet Reporteri, said his car “was shot with five or six bullets” at around midnight, after he had parked it in the centre of the northern divided town of Mitrovica, and when he heard shots fired.

“When I approached the place where I had parked, I saw that the car was badly damaged. At first I was convinced it had been hit by something strong, but then I spotted bullet holes and bullets everywhere: in the driver’s seat, on the roof and in the back,” Kajtazi wrote on his Facebook account.

Kajtazi said he had notified the police and attributed the violent attack to his work as an investigative journalist.
Civil society activists, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, leading politicians and also citizens took to social media to condemn the attack.

Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti on Facebook on Sunday urged “law enforcement agencies to treat Shkumbin’s case with high priority and clarify the circumstances of the attack”.

“Freedom of media and expression are guaranteed by law and will be protected in every circumstance,” Hoti added, declaring that “attacks on journalists and the media are direct attacks on democratic values, and therefore will be treated with priority by law enforcement agencies”.

Former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, leader of a junior coalition partner in government, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, shared a photo of Kajtazi on his Facebook account on Sunday evening, slating the attack.

“Freedom is not complete without the freedom of speech,” Haradinaj wrote, adding that this was the second attack on Kajtazi “after constant threats against him”.

Deeming the attack “bad news for our country”, Haradinaj urged the justice authorities to prioritize the protection of journalists, “especially investigative ones”.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, noted in a press release on Sunday that the police had confirmed starting an investigation. The Mitrovica Region police spokesperson, Avni Zahiti, had told the AJK that “a case has been initiated and is being investigated … At the scene in the damaged vehicle, four bullet shells have been found. There is no data on injured persons”.

Mitrovica Mayor Agim Bahtiri also condemned the act, as did different members of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and the Vetevendosje party, civil society activists and citizens.

Romanian NGOs Condemn Threat to Limit Access to Information

Posted on October 16, 2020January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Five leading NGOs in Romania on Friday in an open letter condemned legislation tabled this week in parliament by an opposition Social Democratic Party MP – initially supported by the chief whip of the ruling National Liberal Party – that would reduce the state’s obligation to supply public information.

The legal amendment would make those requesting information liable to cover the financial costs of the process of collecting and releasing information, such as scanning and making copies of documents and other operations.

If the legislation is adopted, authorities could deny information requests on the basis of their volume – if the requested information or data exceeds 50 pages – or by invoking the request’s allegedly “malicious intent”.

The executive director of the Centre for Independent Journalism, CJI, Cristina Lupu, told BIRN that the spirit of the proposed legislation suggested that “the person who requests information is seen as an enemy of the state, not as someone exercising a fundamental right”.

The CJI along with other human rights groups such as ActiveWatch and the Centre for Public Innovation has signed the open letter.

Some MPs are already backing away form the law change. Soon after the media raised the alert about on the legislation being tabled, the chief whip of the ruling centre-right National Liberals, Florin Roman, announced on Facebook that he no longer supported the initiative.

“I have made a written request to withdraw my signature for this draft legislation,” the MP said. He said he had changed his mind after receiving “signals” from various “people of good faith” who warned him of its potentially “abusive interpretations”.

He announced that his party would vote against the legislation in parliament, which substantially diminishes its chances of ever being adopted.

However, although it is in opposition, the Social Democrats still have the largest number of seats in parliament, and could still seek the support of smaller parties to get the amendment adopted.

In their open letter, the five NGOs said the proposed legislation would undermine transparency and curb rights to free speech and free access to information, highlighting that these rights are protected by the Romanian constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lupu of the CJI warned that trust in the state recently “has diminished, and attempts to limit transparency are further reducing trust”.

She recalled that Romania’s government had temporarily limited access to information amid the COVID-19 pandemic by concentrating the supply of information in central institutions.

Lupu advocated boosting digitalization of the public administration as a way to optimize resources and overcome the logistical problems officials can face when responding to information requests, instead of refusing to answer them, or charging citizens for exercising their rights.

Romania is not the only country in the region experiencing the same worrying trend observed by Lupu. Activists across Central and Southeast Europe have warned of similar limitations on transparency in their countries, often under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Montenegrin Broadcaster Torn by Accusations of Sabotage and Political Interference

Posted on October 9, 2020January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

The management of Montenegro’s public broadcaster, RTCG, on Thursday accused members of the managing council and some editors of compromising editorial policy and working for the interests of former opposition parties that now form the new majority in parliament.

It accused the two NGO representatives on the nine-member council, Bojana Jokic and Milan Radovic, of deliberately sabotaging production and of helping the former opposition blocs to win the August 30 parliamentary elections. Jokic and Radovic represent civil society on the council.

“Internal pressure increased from party sleepers, who were ordered to sabotage the programme and compromise the editorial policy of RTCG. Council members Milan Radovic and Bojana Jokic are assisting them with the goal of the parliamentary majority taking over the public service as soon as possible,” a press release said.

The fiery response came after Jokic and Radovic on Thursday accused RTCG management of exerting unacceptable political pressure, after two editors were dismissed for disagreeing with the broadcaster’s editorial policy.

Editor Bojan Terzic said he was quitting because of the hostile way the broadcaster covered the issue of the Serbian Orthodox Church – a hot and divisive topic in the recent elections.

RTCG management also replaced another editor, Zoran Lekovic, after he also accused it on Facebook of unprofessionalism and of religious and national intolerance.

On Thursday, Jokic and Radovic called on the management to resign. “Freedom of expression of journalists must not be endangered. Pressure on journalists has increased so we call on the management to resign, and on journalists to self-organise”, Radovic said.

The parties that form the new majority on parliament have long accused RTCG as acting as a mouthpiece for the ousted Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS.

A battle over the future direction of the broadcaster was therefore inevitable after three opposition blocs won a slender majority of 41 of the 81 seats in parliament on August 30, ousting the long-ruling DPS.

In its 2020 progress report on Montenegro, the European Commission expressed “serious concern” about “continued political interference” in the work of the broadcaster.

Earlier, in 2018, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders noted the replacement of several key managers at RTCG with supporters of the DPS.

The appointment of new management in March 2017 that tried to distance itself from the ruling party and produce more balanced content created hope that things would change – but civil society organisations and the opposition have since said that those initial gains were rapidly lost.

After sacking two members of the managing council, drawn from the ranks of civil society, citing alleged conflicts of interest, in March 2018 parliament appointed successors who were seen as closer to the then ruling coalition.

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