On occasion of the media news that a large number of citizens have been listed in special electoral rolls unbeknownst to them, even against their will, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Sabic, has estimated that this will represent a severe form of violation of human rights. Highlighting that all complaints lodged with the Commissioner, based on their substance, will be treated as priority, insofar as may be possible, the Commissioner has called the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and the competent authorities of the local self – governments to immediately take all necessary measures within their power regarding this. The Commissioner has called the MoIA and the Prosecutor’s Office to take all measures in order to determine the facts relevant for possible criminal responsibility of certain individuals.

In connection to this, the Commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic, has stated the following:

‘’The Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and the local self – government bodies, whose job is to keep electoral rolls, are competent and responsible for organizing and conducting elections for the national councils and have the sole power to process the personal data required by the special election rolls.  The citizen has the sole right to submit a request to be listed in the special election rolls and this cannot be done by someone else outside the conditions prescribed by the law.

I have previously, several times, warned that it is illegal for anyone else, under the guise of providing assistance, to perform personal data processing, collect information and create the records of election rolls or other lists of individuals, and especially to create special ‘’private’’, party or other collections of data based on the photocopies of requests or personal documents, i.e. lists of individuals with addresses, telephone numbers and the like. Regarding the possibility that similar violations of the law have been perpetrated in certain communities, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has already taken concrete measures.

However, the latest information, which is yet to be confirmed in full, that a significant number of people have been listed in the special election rolls unbeknownst to them, even against their will, merit the greatest possible attention. If it turns out that this is true, this will be the most serious, the most severe, violation of human rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the law. Something like this would be very harmful politically, because it casts a shadow on a very important democratic activity such as, of course, the elections for the National Councils of the National Minorities.  This is also not sustainable from the moral aspect, because no one should be allowed to treat the citizens as sheep in his ownership and enlist or relist them from one registry to the other at his will.

Finally, on the whole, something like that is, from the legal aspect, in addition to other things, a severe criminal act punishable by three years of imprisonment under the Criminal Code of the RS. “