Attorney Supports Arrests, Warns against Using Them to Divert Attention

Rodoljub Sabic (Beta/Milan Obradovic)

Rodoljub Sabic, an attorney and the former commissioner for information of public importance, said on Feb. 5 that every successful action against organized crime, like the recent arrest of a number of members belonging to a gang led by Veljko Belivuk, deserved support, but warned that using such operations to redirect attention from existential subjects was not good.

"We are facing increasingly rapid transformation of institutions into decorative, token entities, essentially inadequate in justifying their own existence, especially the enforcement of law and protection of legally and constitutionally guaranteed rights. Examples of deinstitutionalization, undercutting institutions and subordinating them to partisan, group and even personal interests are numerous and daily, and increasingly rarely spark a commensurate reaction," Sabic told BETA.

The former commissioner added that, in spite of evidently high corruption and the authorities' declarations that curbing it is a priority, the Anti-Corruption Agency is in reality a non-entity. "It's just ornamental. It has a building, a budget, a director, employees, but is unable to run even one full administrative procedure because, months after the deadline, the Agency Council hasn't been appointed and there is no indication when it will be," he added.

"Without listing things ad infinitum, it's obvious that we're facing blatant ignoring of the fundamental obligation of any government -- to ensure that institutions apply law consistently and non-selectively and protect the rights of all members of society," he said.