Serbian prosecutor who investigated Belgrade Trump tower project targeted with spyware

Expert analysis has found that a Serbian prosecutor who investigated an allegedly illegal scheme to clear the way for a $500m Trump hotel and tower in Belgrade was targeted with advanced spyware.

Rade Bajić is a member of Serbia's specialised organised-crime unit, which brought an indictment accusing senior figures in President Aleksandar Vučić's government of abusing office to unlawfully strip the General Staff building of its protected status. The Guardian

Bajić was taken off the case without explanation shortly before the indictment was published. In August, he received a message from Apple saying it had detected a targeted mercenary attack against his iPhone.

Researchers at the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary research unit at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, said the Apple warning was a high-confidence indicator that his device was likely targeted with mercenary spyware such as Pegasus. The researchers have not established who was behind the attack. Citizen Lab

Bajić said his involvement in the Trump tower case was the sole reason for the spyware attack.

Vučić, Serbia's president, hosted Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner in Belgrade in connection with the development. Kushner was leading the Trump Belgrade development and called off the plans after the charges were made public.

The finding was part of wider research by the Citizen Lab with the SHARE Foundation into Pegasus and mercenary spyware attacks on Serbian pro-democracy figures. That work included a confirmed Pegasus infection of a pro-democracy student activist's phone and findings that two opposition figures were targeted with spyware. Reuters