The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Sabic, met today with the representatives of The Network for Restitution in Serbia, and spoke with them about the problems related to the access to information of public importance on denationalization, meaning restitution. Besides stating that it was unacceptable that The Network for Restitution could only have obtained the majority of relevant information after filing a complaint with the Commissioner and him reacting, the Commissioner announced that he would write a special letter to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia in which he would point out the necessity for a far greater transparency of all the activities of state institutions related to the process of restitution.
In this regard, the Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also stated the following:
«The number of complaints that The Network for Restitution had to file with the Commissioner for Information is both absurd and worrying. Over 98 complaints have been filed against various state institutions, the majority of them being the ministries. Up until now, 71 complaints have been resolved. In 42 cases, immediately after the intervention by the Commissioner, his request to the state institution to respond made without issuing a separate warrant, the information previously denied were then provided, while in 19 cases the information were provided after the Commissioner made an official request. However, a smaller portion of those requests has not still been fulfilled or was fulfilled pro forma or just partly. Currently, 27 complaints by The Network for Restitution are being processed.
These considerable problems in achieving the right to free access to information cannot be justified in any way, especially when it comes to information that are of such high public importance. For example, what would justify the denial of information on laws and documents, which would otherwise have to go through a public debate anyway, or on the existence of accounts or a lack thereof, and their balances, which were supposed to be established for the purposes of restitution?
All of the questions related to the process of denationalization represent a valid, legitimate sphere of interest for the citizens who want to have the property that was once taken away from their families back, but this issue is more than just that. These questions represent a legitimate sphere of interest for all the citizens of Serbia, since the manner, kind and scope of restitution will influence the burden that they themselves will have to bear either directly or indirectly. And, of course, the issue of restitution is a legitimate sphere of interest for the wide general public, taken into consideration that the attitude of the state towards restitution and the way that the state handles this issue will certainly influence the process of European integration of Serbia as well.
Taking into consideration the aforementioned reasons, in the letter that I will be writing to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia I will put an emphasis on the need, more precisely the necessity, for a greater level of transparency of all the activities of state institutions when it comes to the process of restitution.»
