Commissioner wants wiretapping scandal "explained"
Source: TanjugBELGRADE -- Rodoljub �abi� said on Friday that "information about tapping of President Tomislav Nikoli� and First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vu�i� was scandalous".
The commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection added that "an explanation is expected from competent security services".
“This is not a matter of violation of secrecy of communication of an ordinary citizen, but top state officials, including the president. In any part of the world, this would be not only bizarre, but also scandalous,” �abi� told Tanjug.
�abi� noted that for years already he has been warning about the situation in the area of electronic communication in Serbia, which the state should not tolerate.
The commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection and the ombudsman carried out an action of surveillance of mobile phone providers in Serbia this summer, and concluded that privacy of communication is subject to mass infringement.
“This is not a classical tapping, but rather the case in which someone gets data about with whom, how long and from which place you are communicating, which is nothing less than tapping,” �abi� said.
He noted that the Constitution lies down that the communication can be overseen only in case of criminal procedures and protection of state security following the court's decision.
The case of tapping of highest officials can be an initiator of the search for a solution in this area, �abi� said.
Committee to review security agencies' reports
In the coming period, the Serbian parliament's Security Services Control Committee will review the regular reports from the Security Information Agency (BIA), the Military Intelligence Agency (VOA) and the Military Security Agency (VBA) which are under its purview.
Committee Chairman Jadranka Joksimovi� said Friday that one of the issues the committee could raise was the legality of the agencies' procedures and measures for secret data collection.
"The public will be informed regularly about the activities, findings and conclusions of the Security Services Control Committee, all with the aim of turning Serbia into a society where the situation we have today - the completely unauthorized and illegal tapping of phones of top state officials - cannot occur," Joksimovi� told Tanjug.
Joksimovi�, who is a member of the Serb Progressive Party (SNS), added that her party and she as the committee chairman would do everything in their power to get to the bottom of this issue.
Nikoli� and Vu�i� stated that their phones were being tapped.
Nikoli� told Radio Television of Serbia earlier: "We have fallen into a snake pit, among people who use their high positions in many services to run lives, among people who dared to listen in on myself and on Aleksandar Vu�i�. We will get to the bottom of this. Serbia cannot live like this."
