Committee finds military agency did not breach law

Committee finds military agency did not breach law

BELGRADE -- The Committee for Security Services Oversight of the Serbian Parliament has concluded that the Military Security Agency (VBA) had not violated the law.

The committee also found late on Wednesday that Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic had made a mistake when he went public with his suspicions that certain citizens had been wiretapped over an incident that involved the brother of the prime minister and coincided with the holding of Pride Parade in Belgrade last September.

After the session which lasted seven hours, chairman Momir Stojanovic told reporters that the ombudsman had not presented convincing evidence that the Military Security Agency had wiretapped labor union leaders, political party members and judges, and that the committee had concluded that "the agency has not violated the law," the Beta agency reported.

As regards the incidents during the Pride Parade, in which the brother of the prime minister, Andrej Vucic, the Belgrade mayor, and the military policemen who were guarding them were attacked, Stojanovic said the dispute between the ombudsman and the Defense Ministry had arisen due to different interpretations of the law.

Stojanovic said the committee had concluded that the Defense Ministry was right in the dispute, and that the ombudsman could not obtain the requested information, before the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office gave its permission.

He also said the committee had concluded that the ombudsman was not right to publicize his suspicions that the Military Security Agency members had illegally taken video and audio footage with eyewitnesses of the incident during the parade, adding that it had been established that the Military Security Agency...