For the first time since its establishment, the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office announced its new investigations to the public, operations “Tariff” and “Tank”, through a statement on their official website, instead of presenting them at a press conference.
The last press conference by the SPO was held before more than two months ago, on the 18th of November, last year.
The reason for this change in the manner of revealing investigations by SPO wasn’t announced officially, but the SPO explained that currently they are “preoccupied” and time is lost on preparing for press conferences. Furthermore, they said that on the day when a press conference is held, the SPO is blocked for a few hours – from prosecutors to the clerks.
Janeva’s cabinet would not clarify whether this new practice of public relations has to do with criticism the SPO has received from local analysts, but also from parts of the international community.
On the 25th of October last year, European diplomats, at a press briefing, among other issues, stressed they were worried that the SPO had found itself in the centre of the pre-election campaigns of the parties both in power and in the opposition, each for its own purposes, and said that they believed it would be better if for this period, the SPO be less visible to the public, and to intensify its work on cases related to illegal wiretapping.
