Committee finds military agency did not breach law

Committee finds military agency did not breach law

After the session which lasted seven hours, chairman Momir Stojanovic told reporters that the ombudsman had not presented convincing evidence that the Military Security Agency had wiretapped labor union leaders, political party members and judges, and that the committee had concluded that "the agency has not violated the law," the Beta agency reported.

As regards the incidents during the Pride Parade, in which the brother of the prime minister, Andrej Vucic, the Belgrade mayor, and the military policemen who were guarding them were attacked, Stojanovic said the dispute between the ombudsman and the Defense Ministry had arisen due to different interpretations of the law.

Stojanovic said the committee had concluded that the Defense Ministry was right in the dispute, and that the ombudsman could not obtain the requested information, before the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office gave its permission.

He also said the committee had concluded that the ombudsman was not right to publicize his suspicions that the Military Security Agency members had illegally taken video and audio footage with eyewitnesses of the incident during the parade, adding that it had been established that the Military Security Agency was entitled to do so in order to guard protected persons.

VBA director speaks

Director of Serbia’s Military Security Agency (VBA) Petar Cvetkovic said Wednesday that he had made the decision not to provide Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic with documents about an incident in which VBA members clashed with members of the Gendarmerie in downtown Belgrade during the fall of 2014.

He added that the case had ceased to be the military agency’s responsibility the moment it had been sent to the prosecutor.

Cvetkovic, who spoke before the parliament’s Security Services Control Committee, said that when he had received Jankovic’s request to provide him with the documents, he had first been in two minds between the Criminal Procedure Code (ZKP) and the Law on the Protector of Citizens, but eventually, he had decided to act according to the ZKP because otherwise the prosecutor could file criminal charges against him.

“I chose the lesser of two evils,” said Cvetkovic.

“I do not hide from control. It is in my interest for the control to come and see what happened, to draw the line and help me avoid a situation of somebody pointing fingers at me in the future,” Cvetkovic said and invited Jankovic to come and inspect the work of the VBA.

Ombudsman addresses committee

Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic stated on Wednesday that he has not asserted that the Military Security Agency (VBA) violated the law during the incident that involved members of the VBA and the MUP Gendarmerie, but that he "learned that this happened, so it was his duty to check it," Tanjug said.

At a meeting of the Serbian parliament's Security Service Control Committee, the ombudsman asked why the VBA and the Defense Ministry maintain that he should not check the allegations.

Commenting on the incident that took place in central Belgrade when members of the Gendarmerie tasked with preserving order during the Pride Parade on September 28 attacked two VBA members and Andrej Vucic, Jankovic said that it is irrefutable that this happened and that the VBA members took part in this, adding that he presented to the public the report on this incident compiled by the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) Internal Control.

Moreover, the Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade launched an investigation into the case and it will determine whether this can be characterized as crime, Jankovic said.

On Tuesday, the ombudsman called on Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic, who was also present at the meeting, to forward him all data relevant for the control of the Ministry with regards to this case.

The ombudsman underlined in his official letter that he requested from the VBA to provide him with the data regarding the facts and conduct so as to complete his findings, in an effort to decide on the need for launching a control procedure.

Given that the VBA stated that the data were supplied to the prosecution, the ombudsman elaborated on the difference between the criminal proceedings and the proceedings before the ombudsman.

The Serbian ombudsman also noted that in the procedure aimed at monitoring the interior ministry's operations, the interior minister provided over a hundred documents, as well as audio and video recordings of official communications related to the incident.

At the committee meeting, Jankovic said that he believes that the only way out of this situation, which would make the state and security system stronger, is the control that would be carried out by the ombudsman, which implies that he would go through all the documents without making them public, and then inform the parliament on the issue.

“This is the only way to strengthen the rule of law and demonstrate that control is being exerted over the authorities in Serbia,” Jankovic said.

The ombudsman noted that he has been controlling the security services for seven years now, and has encountered no problem to date.

At the start of the meeting, Chair of the Committee Momir Stojanovic noted that the dispute between the ombudsman and the defense ministry is more about different interpretations of legal provisions than bad intentions.