IHF Report 2002
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SLOVENIA1 275 IHF FOCUS: freedom of expression and media; rule of law and independence of the judiciary; torture, ill-treatment and police misconduct; right to privacy; national minori- ties; citizenship; intolerance, xenophobia, racial discrimination and hate speech. There were reports of serious human is whether the judicial system, the police rights violations in Slovenia in 2001 despite and the State react to such misconduct and its good international reputation among for- punish it. mer socialist states. Most of the violations N The editorial board members of weekly related to non-Slovene inhabitants whose Mladina were stopped in October in the status remained unresolved and who were vicinity of the American Embassy and asked without many basic rights. to produce identification. Four members Prosecutors and courts were reluctant were arrested after they refused to show to deal with cases involving corruption and their IDs. They were released about two economic crimes. Also of concern were po- hours later, but were charged with breaking lice violence and the suspicion that the in- the Law on Personal Identification. Mladina telligence service monitored the e-mail and insisted that the four board members were telephone calls of academicians and other not properly informed about their rights and intellectuals. the reason for their arrest. The incident happened after Mladina reported that the Freedom of Expression and Media Slovene Information Security Agency Cases of the harassment of journalists (SOVA) was monitoring the e-mails of pro- were reported in Slovenia in 2001: minent academics, civil society and cultural N The International Federation of Journa- activists. Ljubljana police press representa- lists (IFJ) conducted an independent inves- tive Robert Staba stated that due to interna- tigation into the case of Slovene journalist tional circumstances, the police had in- Miro Petek, who worked with the Maribor’s creased security in Ljubljana, including the 3 daily Vecer. Mr Petek was brutally beaten surroundings of the American Embassy. by unidentified persons on 24 February af- ter publishing a series of articles on money Rule of Law and Independence of the laundering, corruption involving local busi- Judiciary nessmen, authorities and the police. The According to information from a former police initiated an investigation but found Minister of Justice to Helsinki Monitor- no leads. The Society of Journalists of Slo- Slovenia (HMS), Slovene courts had a venia (DNS) and IFJ sent open letters to backlog of one million cases. The President President Milan Kucan and Prime Minister of the Supreme Court stated that approxi- Janez Drnovsek, asking them to urge fur- mately 550,000 news cases have been ini- ther investigations in order to catch the per- tiated annually in recent years. petrators more quickly. The IFJ planned to Several recent cases suggested possi- start an independent investigation at the ble political motivation in the work of pros- beginning of 2002, focusing on the obliga- ecutors and the courts, who have been re- tion of the police and judicial bodies to ad- luctant to deal with cases involving eco- here to European and international stan- nomic crimes, corruption and abuse in the dards regarding freedom of the media.2 privatisation process. According to HMS, The Ombudsman made a controversial sta- the Parliament demanded that state prose- tement on POP TV, indicating that the real cutors in Slovenia submit all cases filed problem is not whether the police abuse against alleged abuses in the privatisation their authority or beat citizens; the problem processes to the Parliament. The prosecu- 276 SLOVENIA tors’ case files for 1990 to 1997 only in- ployees of the Ministry of Defence had set cluded 520 cases. In all but three minor an explosive device under the car of a cases, the cases were closed without a ver- member of Parliament in the early 90s. dict either by a prosecutor or by the court. Major Troha revealed in the interview that, N The case of former State Secretary on the order of his superiors, he had Boris Sustar reflected the questionable role helped falsify a sentinel diary to cover up of state prosecutors in the judicial system the act by his officers. Soon after his disap- in cases involving corruption. Mr Sustar was pearance, the media launched a defama- charged with taking bribes from companies tion campaign against Major Troha, claim- he dealt with in his capacity as State ing that he had gone into hiding. On 11 Secretary. A broad media campaign was June, HMS learned from a police officer launched labelling Mr Sustar a criminal that Major Troha had been under police even before a court verdict was issued. Mr surveillance immediately after giving the Sustar himself claimed to have evidence of January interview. Eleven days later, Major wide-spread corruption among state offi- Troha was found in poor physical condition cials and managers of state companies. on a country roadside and was hospitali- After being released from prison in autumn sed. He claimed he had been kidnapped 2001, Mr Sustar approached the HMS and believed that the perpetrators be- claiming that his right to a fair trial had been longed to law enforcement. The prosecutor violated. According to court transcripts, two refused to deal with two demands by HMS witnesses stated that they had been pres- to investigate the case. In the meantime, sured by the police to testify against Mr the Ministry of Defence dismissed Major Sustar. According to HMS, the police also Troha, saying that he should produce evi- apparently falsified some documentation dence of his kidnapping. The case was linked to the case. However, the court pending at the time of writing. found Mr Sustar guilty without investigating the witnesses’ allegations. Mr Sustar filed Torture, Ill-Treatment and Police 15 complaints against four criminal police Misconduct officers and one state prosecutor. According to HMS, the number of cas- es of police violence or other misconduct N In 2001, clients of the Elan Internal was on the rise, and the Ministry of Interior Bank, which went bankrupt in the early failed to investigate complaints of police 90’s during the privatisation process (which misconduct. was characterized by a number of irregular- The Law on Police did not provide the ities), filed their case with the European possibility to appeal to court on police vio- Court of Human Rights. 2,719 clients lost lence, nor did it oblige the Ministry to issue their savings as a result of the bankruptcy. a legal decision about their investigations The Constitutional Court ruled that the into complaints. Court of Registration had erred when regis- N In January, police assisted in the evic- tering the bank because the State could not tion without a court warrant of three com- have covered the individual losses suffered panies owned by Stefan Hudobivnik, an as a result of bankruptcy. Despite this rul- entrepreneur and former presidential can- ing, the clients have not received any com- didate. Mr Hudobivnik had a legal lease pensation. with the owner of the premises, who is a N Major Ladislav Troha disappeared on ministerial adviser. The police also confis- 19 January 2001 after giving a press inter- cated property and documentation belong- view in which he revealed how three em- ing to Mr Hudobivnik’s companies. He was SLOVENIA 277 arrested on 9 January 2001 and held in Right to Privacy custody for 24 hours, officially suspected of According to the weekly Mladina, after having hidden documentation to cover up the 11 September terrorist attacks in New his illegal commercial activities. At a 15 York and Washington, D.C, the SOVA began January press conference, the police in monitoring e-mails and telephone conver- Kranj stated that Stefan Hudobivnik was a sations, particularly of academics and peo- criminal, this claim made many newspaper ple involved in cultural and civil society ac- headlines the following day. Mr Hudobi- tivities. Representatives of the Slovenian e- vnik’s case was still pending in court one mail providers, the Academic and Research year after the eviction although, by law, Network of Slovenia (Arnes) and the Jozef such cases should be decided promptly. Stefan Institute (IJS) refrained from com- N On 15 March, about 50 armed police ment on the matter. officers – some of them wearing masks – The legislation allowed for telecommu- raided the house of eight Bosnian workers nication to be monitored in the event of a despite the fact that night-time raids by the threat to national security, but the National police were prohibited by law. The masked Security Council determined that the at- officers pulled the workers out of their tacks in the US did not constitute any dan- beds, throwing them half-naked on the ger to Slovenia itself. By law, SOVA must floor, tying their arms and legs and pointing obtain a court order in order to monitor rifles to their heads. The police also point- telecommunication, and this could only be ed their rifles at the bed of a two-year-old applied to the delivery of postal packages child, who required medical care as a result and telecommunication.7 of the trauma. The workers were left lying on the floor for two hours, after which time National Minorities they were taken to the police station and Roma Minority verbally abused. The incident appeared to According to the 1991 census, there be racially motivated and was not sanc- were only 2,293 registered Roma in Slove- tioned by the Ministry of the Interior.4 nia, but the European Union estimated the N On 11 July, Iztok Strbenc, the owner of real number to be 6,500 to 10,000. Of the a construction firm, was beaten by the po- Roma who had Slovenian citizenship, 74% lice because he protested the illegal con- received social aid and 13% were regularly struction work that started on his lot without employed, while social aid and employ- the valid documentation.