Šabić: Other members of the REM are fully aware that Informer has violated the law, but they prevented the imposition of sanctions.

Members of the Regulatory Body Council who withheld their votes, which is why no decision was made regarding the complaints against the Informer television, were perfectly aware that a violation had occurred, but they prevented the imposition of sanctions, says REM Council member and lawyer Rodoljub Šabić. In this way, according to him, they embarked on the path of abuse of official position.

Šabić stated during his appearance on N1 television that the members of the REM Council who voted against punishing the Informer did not justify their decision because, as he says, it is perfectly clear to them that this involves particularly serious violations.

"This is not disputed by anyone who looks at the text of the law," he emphasizes.

He reminded that the law provides for three types of measures for broadcasters who violate standards and laws.

"One is a warning. It is imposed, as the law states, for violations that cannot be classified as either serious or particularly serious. The second is a reprimand. This is reserved for violations that seriously infringe on some protected interest or right, but which were committed unintentionally, through oversight, negligence, and so on. And the third - the suspension of broadcasting certain programming content for a specific period - is a measure reserved for particularly serious violations. Therefore, violations of dignity, actual or covert incitement of hatred or discord between two groups based on different grounds, including political grounds, direct insults to personal dignity, and so on," states the interlocutor from N1.

He emphasizes that it was clear to all REM members that in the case of the Informer, there was a serious violation, and that in this case, the measure to be imposed is the suspension of broadcasting; however, three members of this body stated that they were willing to vote for a warning.

“So, it is completely clear to them that there was a legal violation. There is no basis for voting for a warning, but they insisted on it. I must tell you that although I warned several times, even quoting legal provisions, not just me, but also the present representatives of the legal and expert services, that it simply cannot be justified, they actually decided to block the decision we proposed, which was the only one that could be imposed legally. So, they were perfectly aware that a violation had occurred, but they prevented the imposition of sanctions,” Šabić noted.

"They obviously cannot do anything against the Informer."
He also recalls that the president of the REM Council, during the discussion about the Informer, refuted the material from his own service, which he previously had no objections to, assessing that it was "below every standard."

“He had the opportunity, at the time we were deciding about initiating proceedings, to say: 'People, this material is no good. I will not vote for initiating proceedings.' He raised his hand for initiating proceedings and suddenly appeared with a mass of objections that actually have no arguments. It is completely clear to all of them that this is, quite obviously, a particularly serious violation, but they obviously cannot do anything against the Informer. That warning, that would really be ridiculous. Imagine, after all that, to issue a warning, that was the most they dared to allow themselves,” Rodoljub Šabić stated.

He assesses that the path taken by certain members of the REM Council is a path of abuse of official position, and that at the end of that path lies an ugly outcome that they cannot allow themselves.

Source: N1