The opposition party Serbia Center (SRCE) has called on the director of Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) and relevant government officials to explain how information about BIA personnel allegedly reached foreign intelligence services and who was responsible for protecting the data.
The statement follows the arrest of two women in Vranje and Jagodina who are suspected of espionage and of providing information about active BIA members to Albanian and Kosovo intelligence services.
“An agency that does not protect its own people cannot ask for the trust of citizens,” SRCE’s Committee for Defense and Internal Affairs said.
The party stressed that the presumption of innocence applies while the investigation remains ongoing.
“If the suspicions are confirmed, information about people whose job is to remain invisible was accessible to foreign services. How long did this last? How many people were exposed? Who was responsible for protecting them? Responsibility cannot end with the immediate perpetrators,” SRCE said.
The party also called for authorities to determine who had access to BIA personnel data and whether there is a complete record of such access.
“Parliament is dissolved, but security does not wait for the October 25 elections,” the party said, urging the parliamentary committee responsible for oversight of the security services to examine the case as soon as circumstances allow.
SRCE argued that BIA cannot be addressed through cosmetic changes, but requires a comprehensive restructuring of the system.
“If a new service is established, the state must not remain without counterintelligence protection for even a single day, while parliamentary oversight must be genuine rather than formal,” the party said.
It added that Serbia needs security institutions that protect the state while operating within the law, alongside mechanisms capable of protecting citizens from potential abuses of those institutions.
The comments come after Serbian authorities announced the arrest of two women suspected of espionage. According to the allegations, the suspects had allegedly collected information about BIA members and passed it to intelligence services in Albania and Kosovo. The investigation remains ongoing.
