By: Andrej Žitnik (Nova24tv.si)
“Politics is doing nothing to stop the biggest political gangster, who won yet another victory in court a few days ago. This time, he was acquitted and thus avoided paying another 20 million euros,” said Ljubljana City councillor Jasminka Dedić at the protest rally, calling on honest officials to remain courageous and refuse to participate in this crime. Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) MP Anja Bah Žibert pledged to help the people of Ljubljana in their fight for clean drinking water.
On Monday at 2.30 p.m., a protest against the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, and his trampling of the rule of law began in front of the Ljubljana City Council. A crowd of several hundred people gathered with banners and Slovenian flags. Like all rallies so far, this one started with the Slovenian national anthem.
Aleš Primc, the leader of the rally, began by saying that the goal of the protests had not yet been achieved, as Mayor Janković has still not stopped the illegal and unconstitutional construction that could destroy the drinking water of 300,000 Ljubljana residents. Primc recalled the catastrophic droughts from around the world, which are already happening, even though we are only at the beginning of the summer. “A normal country and a normal municipality would protect its drinking water sources, but in Ljubljana, Janković wants to destroy them. This is unacceptable,” Primc stressed. Day after day, more and more prominent public figures are coming forward, commenting on the illegal situation of the so-called “shit pipeline”.
Primc then read out the opinion of Judge Jan Zobec and his well-known view on the terrible state of the judiciary in our country. The eminent lawyer Jože Hribernik wrote the well-known old Roman saying about the C0 pipeline – namely, that money does not stink, as this is only about money, after all. According to Hribernik, it is simply not possible to run a sewer across a drinking water catchment area in a safe manner, and no one has the right to issue any permit for the destruction of drinking water for future generations.
Politics refuses to stop the political gangster
City councillor and green activist Jasminka Dedić said that so much has already been said about the C0 pipeline, so she echoed the words of the representative of the Medical Chamber said on a recent episode of the show Tarča (Target), who said that the construction of the C0 canal is a crime against the people of Ljubljana. After such difficult words, Dedić expected a response from the institutions, state bodies or ministers, but there was no response, except from the President of the Republic, who called for a temporary halt in the construction process. In the case of the C0 canal, Dedić said, we can see that politics is doing nothing “to stop the biggest political gangster, who won yet another victory in court a few days ago. This time, he was acquitted and thus avoided paying another 20 million euros.” Adding this to the 29 million euros that have already been written off in the past, the state has already written off almost 50 million euros in debts to Janković and his clan.
In Dedić’s opinion, many people wonder how this is even possible, because she believes that most honest and hard-working people are convinced that there is no justice in this country. However, she also believes that justice and truth cannot disappear. “Sometimes they hide, but on the brink of despair, they appear like lightning out of the blue.” The truth, she says, has already come out at the meeting of the National Assembly’s Commission for Petitions, and it is only a matter of time before justice will follow. The environmental activist also called for civil, compensatory and criminal liability for all those involved in the project. Those who remain silent, she believes, “will sink to the bottom with Janković.” At the same time, she appealed to all ministry officials who are doing their job professionally “to remain courageous and refuse to participate in the crime.”
During her speech, the audience started chanting, “Thieves!”
The C0 pipeline is a brutal abuse of the rule of law
Then the opinion of legal expert Dr Tone Jerovšek was broadcast, who said about the C0 project that he had never seen such abuse of the rule of law before, even under socialism. Breaking the project into several smaller parts in order to reduce the importance of the project is, in his view, highly controversial, as it avoids obtaining a whole series of consents. As he said, there has never been an environmental project in Slovenia as dangerous as this one. The project will stop, he said, when the people revolt and have nothing to drink. Jerovšek then also pointed out that the annulment of the decision could be used to stop the project. The Constitution also provides for the possibility of initiating an administrative dispute, in which the government can propose or request the State Attorney’s Office to bring an action to protect the public interest.
Primc then also highlighted the important opinion of the President of the Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, who expressed her regret at the fact that the necessary public debate on the C0 project had not taken place at the time of planning, nor in the subsequent procedures. She pointed out that the process of obtaining construction permits had been fragmented into six phases and that the interventions in the area had been assessed as complex. She pointed to the absence of an environmental impact assessment and questioned whether the procedures had been conducted with sufficient care and whether the precautionary principle had been respected. This principle requires that the introduction of new technologies should only be allowed if no unforeseeable effects on the environment and human health are expected. She believes that an environmental impact assessment and environmental consent should have been obtained before permits were granted for the development and implementation of the project.
The landowners as opponents of the state
Brane Grad, a farmer and landowner in the C0 area, pointed out that for more than five years, they have been defending this area, which would otherwise have been built over long ago. He added that Ljubljana does not have to become the American city of Detroit, which is completely devastated and bankrupted because of its problems with water. The population had dropped from 2.8 million to 300,000, and the city had to pay high compensation to the injured residents. He described the construction of the sewer itself as “crazy and wild.” He also pointed out that the landowners are being painted as opponents of the state, and the police report on the beaten owners even says that they jumped at the police officers. Their lawyers were also told to keep quiet, “or else, they, too, will be beaten”.
No one can have power over clean drinking water!
Anja Bah Žibert, the SDS MP and initiator of the parliamentary session on the C0 sewage canal, also spoke at the end of the protest: “C0 has no environmental consent, no environmental impact assessment and no building permit. But it has the full support of the government of Robert Golob.” Under this support is also the great stamp of approval of the deep state, which wants to take away from us the one commodity that is irreplaceable – that is clean drinking water. “You are not alone in this”, the SDS MP promised those gathered at the protest, as her party’s MPs have tabled requests for an extraordinary session of the National Assembly and a request for a commission of inquiry to be established has also been tabled. “Enough is enough. No one can have power over clean drinking water, not even Janković,” Anja Bah Žibert said in conclusion, and applause from the audience followed.