BELGRADE, 18.05.2018. – The Serbian Ombudsman has ordered the country’s civilian intelligence service to respond to a complaint by an investigative journalist whose personal information was sent to a government affiliated tabloid.
Ombudsman Zoran Pasalic ordered the Security Information Agency (BIA) to respond within 21 days to charges that it released the personal information of investigative network KRIK editor Stevan Dojcinovic to the Informer daily.
KRIK is an investigative journalism portal specializing in stories of crime and corruption.
The KRIK editor filed the complaint after Informer published some of his personal details following an investigation into the assets owned by then Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. Dojcinovic said he learned that the BIA released his personal information to the tabloid.
A statement on the KRIK portal reported that the Ombudsman’s office said a note had been sent to the BIA because the agency failed to respond to the complaint filed in August 2016.
The Ombudsman met with BIA officials in September 2016 and they asked for more time to respond to the complaint filed by Dojcinovic.