Press Releases - Archive

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Processing finds yesterday's public comments by the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the National Assembly in connection with the Commissioner's decision to make publicly available certain pieces of information about the investigation of the "Savamala" case by the public prosecutor's office to be baseless and unfair. Neither the Prime Minister's reference to alleged "double standards" nor the Speaker's allegation of "unspeakable" behaviour have any basis in law or in fact.

Without any intention of polemicizing, but considering it his sacred duty to give the public access to fair and accurate information, the Commissioner notes he made the decision in line with his duty to decide in a lawfully conducted procedure pursuant a complaint filed in accordance with the law.

Pursuant to reports by several trade unions of education employees, who alleged that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development had sent a communication to school principals in which it asked for a list of all union members with their personal data, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Processing Rodoljub Šabić sent a letter to Mr. Mladen Šarčević, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development.

To ensure fair and impartial information is provided to the public, the Office of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection presents the following facts in connection with yesterday's Announcement by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, which stated that this Prosecutor's Office had complied with the Commissioner's order and provided the requester with the information about the case number and the name and surname of the case prosecutor investigating the demolition of buildings in Hercegovacka street in Belgrade (the "Savamala" case) and had allegedly also given the Commissioner notice of this:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection sent to the Republic Public Prosecutor a letter in which he warned that failure of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade to comply with the Commissioner' decision under which that institution was ordered to provide a requester with information "from which he can learn the number of the case and name and surname of the case prosecutor investigating the demolition of buildings in Hercegovacka street in Belgrade (the "Savamala" case)" was a demonstration of utter disregard for the law and constituted a punishable offence.