The International Fact-Checking Network strongly condemns recent actions by Serbian authorities against the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability in Belgrade. The Serbian police raided the premises of CRTA, the parent organization of the fact-checking website Istinomer, Tuesday, citing false claims of corruption in connection with USAID funds. Serbian authorities cited unsubstantiated claims of corruption about USAID made by Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump as justification.
The police entered CRTA’s premises at the request of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, under a false pretense of investigating suspected corruption and money laundering. Only weeks after CRTA and Istinomer started experiencing aggravated harassment from tabloid press and online accounts that spread conspiracy theories and false claims about their “plans to overthrow Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.” The same tabloids that engaged in harassment of CRTA and other civil society groups published news about the raid before it happened, creating panic and confusion and additionally indicating the political background and intended chilling effect of this action.
The office’s chief public prosecutor, Nenad Stefanović, mentioned statements from “U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel” as basis for “serious” suspicions of irregularities, money laundering and misappropriation of USAID funds.
Three other civil society organizations in Serbia were also raided on Tuesday at the prosecutor’s request to the police to “seize all documentation related to donations from USAID, as well as to conduct interviews with responsible persons from those NGOs regarding the circumstances of the spending of funds from donations.”
Claims from Trump, Musk and other administration members about corruption within USAID have lacked evidence and been widely reported as baseless by the American press. Former USAID staff and other officials have asked repeatedly for evidence without receiving it.
This is not the first time that government institutions in Serbia have attempted to intimidate independent media and civil society organizations, but it is an unprecedented escalation of government repression, meant to silence independent voices and using the pretext of baseless accusations from the current U.S. administration for the suppression of independent media.
CRTA is a reputable civil society organization, and Istinomer is a respected member of the IFCN community; both are well-regarded for the transparency of their work. These accusations clearly appear to intimidate and harass, rather than investigate real suspicions of corruption. CRTA’s Istinomer has been a longstanding signatory to the Code of Principles, receiving its first independent assessment and successful approval in 2017. Fact-checkers voluntarily sign on to the Code of Principles and go through a verification process to prove they meet universal standards of transparency, independence, nonpartisanship and methodology.
The International Fact-Checking Network condemns this attack in the strongest terms and calls upon the media organizations and the international community to demand that the Serbian government cease any further actions against CRTA and Istinomer, or any other independent media working in Serbia.
