The eleventh session of the Board of Inquiry Charged with Ascertaining the Truth about New-born Babies Abducted from Maternity Wards in Several Serbian Cities was held on 19 October. The session was chaired by Zivodarka Dacin.

The Board interviewed Gordana Milanovic, head of the Savski Venac Municipal Registry Office, and Milica Novakovic, supervisor at the office, on the entry of birth and death data into the registry books. The two Registry Office officials explained the procedure and deadlines for entering birth and death data into birth and death registries based on birth and death filings, and the manner in which health care institutions and relatives can file such information. They underlined that the deadline for registering a birth was thirty days, and that registry officials entered any discrepancies or inaccuracies in the data in the “Notes” column of the registry.

Interviewed by members of the Board of Inquiry, Bogomir Stokic, Assistant Director of Statistics at the City Office of Statistics, presented data on how information based on registry entries is collected and processed. According to Mr Stokic, death data is forwarded to the Republic Office of Statistics for keeping upon expiry of a two-year period.

The deputies also interviewed Dragica Rajovic, Administrative Inspector at the Administrative Inspection Sector of the Belgrade City Administration Secretariat, about how registry books are kept. Ms Rajovic said that the books were inspected pursuant to the Public Administration Act, as well as that over seventy instances of inspection were performed at the request of the public prosecutor in relation to cases of parents seeking the truth about children missing from maternity wards. The inspection minutes detail all circumstances of the inspection, including factual errors found in data entered.