PNN – In a report, Amnesty International accused the Serbian government of using Israeli software to spy on journalists and activists in the country.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network from Reuters news agency, Citing forensic evidence and the testimony of activists who say they were hacked in recent months, Amnesty International announced in a report that Serbian authorities installed spyware on the phones of dozens of journalists and activists.
In this report, it is stated that in two cases of espionage, the software used by the Israeli surveillance company “Celebrite” was used. Celebrity products are used by law enforcement, including the FBI, to unlock and search smartphones.
At the same time, the officials of the Israeli company Celebrity have announced that they are investigating the accusations made by Amnesty International.
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Dubbed NoviSpy by Amnesty International, the Serbian spyware secretly took screenshots from mobile devices, copied contact lists and then uploaded them to a government-controlled server.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Intelligence Agency of Serbia have not responded to requests for comments regarding the allegations.
According to Amnesty International, Serbia has received the Celebrity software aimed at fighting organized crime as part of an aid package to meet EU integration requirements.
This package, financed by the Norwegian government, has been provided to the Ministry of Interior of Serbia from 2017 to 2021 in order to help Serbia.
In 2018, the Norwegian government temporarily stopped the delivery of Celbright to Serbia, and the Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade raised concerns about the program, but the United Nations Office (UNOPS), which administers the service, eventually stopped the devices in June 2019 delivered to Belgrade.