Ethnic and religious divisions in Serbia and Bosnia re-emerged over Easter, leading to a fresh round of hate speech and online threats.
Easter holiday triggered online threats in Serbia and Bosnia
Existing tensions in Serbia and Bosnia prompted a new round of online threats targeting journalists and top politicians in both countries. The attacks surged ahead of the Easter holidays in both countries where religious divisions remain as alive as ever.
On April 28, Teresa Ribeiro, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, expressed concern about attacks on media staffers in Serbia following a rise in violent threats, verbal attacks and allegations of being foreign mercenaries and “traitors”. Ribeiro said: “I am increasingly concerned by the latest barrage of threats and tone of accusations against media workers in Serbia. Such targeted anti-media manifestations – which are all too often perpetrated in direct reprisal for journalists’ work – have a chilling effect, not only on their ability to serve the public in a democratic society, but also on their physical and psychological wellbeing.”
The head of the Bosnian Serb, Orthodox Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina Metropolitan Hrizostom conducts an Orthodox Easter service in Orthodox Cathedral in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 28 April 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR
In Serbia, on April 22, the inbox of the daily newspaper and portal Danas was flooded with threats reacting to the published quote, “Truth, not God”, attributed to Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, published on the Instagram of their portal.
According to the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, this was the sixth attack on journalists that week, just before Easter. On April 18, the email address of the N1 portal received a threatening email, which the editorial office called the latest in a series of threats sent to this media outlet.
In another case, criminal proceedings were initiated against a man accused of threatening President Aleksandar Vučić on Instagram on April 16.
In Bosnia, a song threatening the international community’s top official in Bosnia, High Representative Christian Schmidt, with death, was widely shared on social networks on April 20, including YouTube, where it has attracted several hundred comments.
The song was sung by protesters at a rally in the mainly Bosnian Serb city of Banja Luka after Schmidt used his executive powers to suspend a property law in Bosnia’s mainly Serbian Republika Srpska RS entity.
In another case, Žarko Kovačević, deputy mayor of Prijedor, insulted his fellow Catholic citizens on Easter day. “When I remember what the Catholic clergy did and are doing to the Serbs, how many victims there were under their blessing, it’s not just that I cannot congratulate them [at Easter], but they disgust me,” he wrote. Kovacevic’s Facebook profile is currently blocked, and no posts are visible.
Pro-Kremlin propaganda rages on in Hungary
The re-election of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party drew opposition claims that freedom and pluralism of the media remain at risk. The editor of the independent weekly HVG, Márton Gergely, accused the Fidesz party of winning by “lies”. He said: “It is quite certain that this election was won with lies”, adding: “Since the election, we have seen that Orbán and Fidesz will not step back from their path.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky answers questions of journalists during his press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 April 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
A few days ago, Tilos Rádió, an independent radio station based in Budapest, learned that its broadcasting license would not be extended in September, following a decision of the Hungarian government.
A video, which began circulating on Facebook in Hungary on April 28, showed cocaine on Ukrainian President Zelensky’s desk. However, it was a montage and the footage has been altered. The white powder was added afterwards. No powder was visible on the table in the original video. The Ukrainian President was also victim of another slur when an article on an anonymous website falsely claimed that Zelensky called Hungarian people “disgusting”. The article has been circulating in Hungarian-language pro-Russian groups on Facebook.
Two different incidents of pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda also occurred in Hungary on April 19. In the first, András Kovács, a journalist for the pro-government news website Origo, shared a post from a right-wing site called Szamok complaining about “the murderous Ukraine regime” and about EU aid for Ukraine’s reconstruction. In a second case, an article from RT (formerly Russia Today), media outlet, banned in the EU, claimed that the notorious massacre in the town of Bucha, attributed to Russian forces, was not committed by the Russians. This reposted by two extremist news sites close to the Hungarian government, Vadhajtások and Szent Korona Rádió.
Cyber-attacks hit Romania and North Macedonia
Hacking attacks targeting websites belonging to public and government institutions continue to occur in many online environments. Macedonia and Romania’s digital landscape, in particular, are struggling to react to the continued cyber-attacks and computer fraud targeting their public systems.
Marcel Ciolacu (C), the new leader of Romania’s main opposition party, the Social Democrat Party (PSD), arrives at his party congress surrounded by coleagues at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, Romania, 22 August 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/BOGDAN CRISTEL
On April 21, the website of the North Macedonia Public Procurement Bureau was reportedly targeted by a ransomware attack, according to several online portals in the country. According to the reports, hackers demanded a ransom paid in bitcoin. However, the head of the Public Procurement Bureau, Borche Hadziev, denied the report, saying that there just was a technical problem, which took time to fix. According to this institution, because of the incident, all tender calls would be extended for several weeks.
Meanwhile, in Romania, just few days after the visit to Kyiv of the Prime Minister and head of the Chamber of Deputies, websites belonging to several key public institutions were hit by DDoS attacks. The attacks were soon claimed on Telegram by Killnet, a hacking group based in Russia. The hackers blamed the attacks on Marcel Ciolacu, the Chamber of Deputies’ President, who promised Romania’s “maximum assistance” to Ukraine. For about seven hours, users couldn’t access the websites belonging to the Ministry of Defence, the government, the Border Police and the railway company.
However, the attack was dismissed as the “work of amateurs” by Vasile Dincu, Romanian Defence Minister. He further added that the hackers didn’t compromise the databases or the command and control systems. “Such attacks exist on government sites even without an ongoing war. Our cyber security divisions are ready. Episodes like this are from amateurs. Some are institutionally orchestrated,” Dincu said.