Global Voices stands in solidarity with the NGOs being attacked by the public prosecutor's office in Serbia and strongly condemns the police raids on their offices as well as the continuing threats and intimidation. Such actions threaten civil society, undermine the important work being done by these NGOs, and weaken accountability structures and freedom of expression.

Earlier this week the Serbian authorities raided the offices of four internationally renowned civil society organizations: CRTA (Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability), the publisher of fact-checking service Istinomer, a Global Voices media partner; Civic Initiatives; the Trag Foundation; and the Center for Practical Politics. These raids, carried out under false premises, were accompanied with a campaign of intimidation, pressure, and legal threats.

Global Voices has worked with the CRTA, a leading pro-democracy organization not only in Serbia, but in the overall region. Since 2002 they have provided citizens with content and information necessary for making informed decisions, in a context where public interest information is largely unavailable or ignored by Serbian mainstream media. One segment of their work involves fact-checking and building resilience to disinformation, while a large section of the organization works on election monitoring and government transparency, including closely monitoring the work of the parliament.

The references to the U.S. Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning Foreign Aid in the justification for these attacks shows that the language in the executive order was not merely adding insult to the injury of a sudden, illegal, and damaging aid freeze, but constitutes an injury in itself. Around the world, the language of the executive order has been used to attack NGOs and Civil Society Organizations on the basis of unsubstantiated claims.

The attacks also demonstrate the ready collusion of authoritarians around the world. Responding to such damaging actions requires a similar degree of cooperation among digital rights organizations, humanitarians, and others affected by the funding freeze. In the face of lies and propaganda about our work, we need to be clear about the vital importance of what we do, and the transparent and accountable ways in which we do it.

Without independent media there is no democracy, and we urge all governments to respect media organizations and online freedom of expression.