Row over Electoral Rolls of Ethnic Minorities

“Statement of Mr. Svetozar Ciplic, Minister of Human and Minority Rights, that the process of registration of ethnic minority voters in separate electoral rolls “went smoothly” could not be further from the truth”, said Mr. Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, for “Blic” daily. He added that “all sorts of irregularities have been observed in the process – omissions, criminal offences, violations of human rights – and these were not just isolated incidents”.

Source: "Blic"

“The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly adopted in 1996 on XXIII session the Resolution on Measures to Dismantle the Heritage of Former Totalitarian Communist Systems. Clause 9 of this document of extreme importance for a breakthrough of the freedom of information to a forbidden area reads as follows: the Parliamentary Assembly welcomes the opening of secret service files for the public in certain former communist countries. It calls on all countries to enable the interested persons to access, on demand, the files kept of them by the former secret services.

Nearly all the former socialist countries responded to this appeal of the Council of Europe. Sadly, Serbia has not. This year marks a whole decade since the adoption of the said Resolution of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly. And also six years since the toppling of the authoritarian regime in Serbia. And three years since the admission of our country to the Council of Europe. We should see each of these “jubilees” as a solemn reminder that it is high time we passed a relevant law governing the treatment of secret service files and thus make an important step both for international reputation of our country and for its further democratic transition.”

Source: "Danas"

Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection speaks for “Danas” (Today)

INTERVIEW

Belgrade – In the last seven months 1,686 files have been registered based on complaints on the lack of respect for right to freely access information of public importance, while in the last year 1,865 of them have been registered. A year ago it was 1,517. That means that until the end of the year the number of files might be double the size from the previous year - points out for “Danas” Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection.

Source: "Blic"

A word plus

Commissioner for Information, Rodoljub Sabic has, after the first criminal charge submitted due to personal data abuse and falsifying citizens’ signatures during entry into special electoral register of one of the national minorities in New Belgrade, submitted another 12 criminal charges, and in the next few days still few more shall be submitted.

Source: "Blic"

When, at the end of last year, the National Assembly enacted the Law on Stipulating the Maximum Number of Employees in the Republic Administration and the Law on Stipulating the Maximum Number of Employees in the Local Administration, as the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, I welcomed the provisions of these laws, for they promote the transparency of government’s work. For example, Article 6 of the first Law states: