In Serbia, 89 civil society organisations and media platforms filed a complaint with the Commissioner for Information against the countries Institute of Public Health regarding the health data of citizens.
The complaint comes after widespread suspicion that the authorities concealed the real number of COVID-19 cases in the country. It has also been alleged that they manipulated statistics in favour of the government, prior to the recent general elections. Data published by BIRN found that the number of active cases was significantly higher than what has been reported by the authorities.
It was also found that the number of new cases in the week running up to the elections was several times higher than publicised, leading to the assumption that numbers were concealed to encourage higher voter turnout.
“Timely and accurate information, along with simply keeping healthy, is of key importance in order to get all parties to behave responsibly, as well as for Serbia’s healthcare system”, reads the press release of the Coalition for Freedom of Access to Information.
On 9 July, the coalition of organisations requested information regarding aggregate numerical data on the health of citizens during the pandemic. They asked for the number of tested people, how many tested positive or negative, the number that was hospitalised vs those being treated at home, the number of recovered patients, and how many lost their lives.
The Institute replied four days later and referred them to a State website containing publicly available data. From this response, it cannot be ascertained if these are the actual figures or manipulated ones.
As their response was deemed in violation of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, a complaint was filed. In addition to this, the coalition sent requests to the Office for Information Technology and eGovernment, and the Ministry of Health.
“The Coalition for Freedom of Access to Information believes that the public must, and has a right to be familiar with both preventive measures and data on COVID-19 positive, hospitalized or cured persons, and even deceased persons during the epidemic. In that way, citizens become more aware of the seriousness of the existing situation and the necessity of conscientious action, and can make a greater contribution to preventing irreparable damage to human lives, but also to the entire healthcare system of the Republic of Serbia”, reads the press release.
Widespread dissatisfaction with the way the pandemic was managed and suspicions of official statistics being manipulated led to large protests in Belgrade at the beginning of July. The government had removed all restrictions and was telling the public that the virus had weakened during the run up to the election. Two weeks later, President Aleksandar Vucic tried to impose a new weekend long curfew and proclaimed that the situation was close to out of control.
