Source: Blic
Guest commentator
Rodoljub Šabić
Commissioner for Information
A copy of a decision passed by a Belgrade magistrate at the end of the last year which found N. S., director of a large State enterprise, guilty of violation of the Law on Free Access to Information and sentenced a fine which may be replaced by imprisonment of 30 days in case of non-payment, was recently sent to the address of the Commissioner for Information. We do not have to mention his full name; in any case, although he was very much in the public eye, he is no longer a director. The copy of the decision was not sent officially. In any case, the proceedings against the said director were not instituted ex officio, but on a proposal of citizen M. V. as plaintiff. He sent the copy of the decision to the Commissioner. It reminded me that the first decision which found someone guilty at all and punished a person for violation of freedom of information several years ago in Sombor was not passed in proceedings instituted on request of a competent public authority, but in proceedings petitioned for by citizens.
What can motivate citizens to se to opt for (mind-numbing) infringement proceedings? Defiance, anger, spite, citizens' awareness. Whatever it is, it deserves respect as any activity the aim of which is to ensure implementation of the law. All the more so because the citizens are not responsible for ensuring enforcement of the law. The state is far more responsible for that than citizens, primarily the executive authorities, as their very name implies. In our country it is (or should be) done by the Ministry of Culture, which has not even had the basic organizational or human resources assumptions from the beginning. This is why there are several thousands of infringements, several thousands of proceedings instituted ex officio and only several dozens of punished persons. Although it is obvious that this "arrangement" is not efficient, it has been maintained for years. It is high time it changed. Instead of an absurd dilemma whether it is a bad concept or a good obstruction, citizens need a normal certainty that all who violate their rights will face sanctions for that.
