22. 01. 2005

NO RESOURCES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION ACT

BELGRADE, January 22, 2005 – Serbia’s new information commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic, says that he has not been provided with the basic resources to begin implementing the Free Access to Information Act. Implementation of the act was hindered, he said, by a number of people whose interests were threatened by free access to information. Veselin Simonovic, the editor-in-chief of Belgrade daily Blic, commented that the authorities had never displayed sensitivity in terms of their social accountability. The deputy mayor of Kragujevac, Sasa Milenic, also commented on the situation, saying that his municipality would soon begin implementing the legislation. Slobodan Beljanske, the chairman of the Chamber of Law of Vojvodina, proposed that those who have not been implementing the act should be brought to justice.