Attorney: Dacic's Decision To Request FBI's Assistance Irresponsible

Ivica Dacic (BetaPhoto/Serbian Ministry of Interior)

Attorney and president of the Center for American Law Vojin Biljic said on March 20 that Interior Minister Ivica Dacic's decision to write a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel asking for assistance in an expert analysis in the area of using devices for emitting sound waves was irresponsible.

"The message that was sent is very dangerous and on the one side it poses a call for interfering in the country's internal affairs, and on the other it is a form of disrespect of the U.S. and its state bodies," Biljic told the Politika newspaper.

He said that this was compounded by the fact that U.S. President Donald Trump had sent a clear message that the U.S. taxpayers' money would no longer be squandered. "Expecting the U.S. to help any political stakeholder in any country by engaging its institutions without a clear interest is simply irresponsible and can be very harmful to relations between Serbia and the U.S.," Biljic said.

He explained that, according to the law against bribery abroad, the FBI could theoretically investigate crimes committed in third countries in the case of corrupt foreign officials, under the condition that citizens or companies in the U.S.'s jurisdiction were involved in the corruption. Also, the FBI can act in situations in which the U.S. public order is threatened in cases of fraud, money laundering, terrorism or other behaviors that affect the U.S. and its citizens.