‘Autocratic’ Serbian government hires Cherie Blair’s legal firm to attack independent communications company

She will be potentially helping enable them to legally harass an independent television and internet company critical of the regime.

According to Yahoo News, Omnia Strategy, based in London, was hired by Serbian authorities to defend them in a case of alleged harassment of Dutch-owned United Group BV. It is also possible that this legal defense will be payed for by public Serbian funds.

United Group BV alleges in its complaint that state-owned Telekom Srbija has been buying up media outlets at inflated prices and turning them into instruments of pro-government propaganda, and they have been targeted for "complete destruction" as a result of their refusal to sell out.

A statement released by them reads, in part:

"The country's ruling establishment is attempting to tighten its grip on power and ensure its own survival through an ongoing and nefarious campaign using government resources to undermine one of the most important pillars of democratic society — a free, independent and professional media."

A spokesperson for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change stated recently:

"Neither Mr Blair nor TBI has played any role whatever in seeking or securing contracts for Mrs Blair’s law firm Omnia. Mrs Blair is a well established lawyer and Omnia has clients all over the world. It is a legal practice which has nothing to do with the work of TBI."

The Tony Blair Institute itself has a history of clients who have come under fire for various reasons, including Kasakhstan's leader Nuruklstan Nazarbayev and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

In fact, Tony Blair himself doesn't have such a great record on civil liberties when he was Prime Minister.

According to the Institute, they are in Serbia with the purpose of "supporting the strategic implementation of modernisation reforms".