By: Petra Janša
While the saga entitled Finding Judge Masleša’s Diploma continues (this matter should be taken over by the state) and while Golob’s criminologist Taras Birsa is looking for murderers in Ljubljana, the question remains who is protecting the real murderer of the former director of the Institute of Chemistry Dr Janko Jamnik.
A good month ago, I read a response to a speculative note by journalist Mitja Felc in Delo in the Novič case. Felc wrote that Dr Milko Novič is “finally solved from the prosecution for murder”, but we will probably never know who murdered the director of KI. The article is, of course, intended for Kunič’s lawyer’s agenda: to emphasise in public the disappointment over the outcome of the proceedings, saying that Novič was not acquitted, but that the accusation against him was rejected due to the statute of limitations. Making Felc’s writing really unprofessional, the journalist also follows Kunič’s complaint about the fact that the case has become obsolete after seven years and that the relevant authorities have not done anything to extend the statute of limitations. But the truth is different. Novič’s lawyers Jože Hribernik, Žiga Podobnik, and Monika Poje pointed out in a letter to readers in Delo that it was quite clear that Dr Novič did not end the life of Dr Jamnik, but that was done by someone else. “The proceedings against the real perpetrator (and his accomplices) are by no means obsolete. Since the initiation of the proceedings, the defence has been urging the prosecution to continue the investigation, as they have focused on a completely wrong man who has nothing to do with the act itself. Unfortunately, the prosecution did not listen to Milko Novič and the parents of the late Jamnik. Even after the last acquittal, it showed no willingness to investigate the murder further. It should be noted, however, that many persons appeared during the proceedings, whom the prosecution should have taken under scrutiny, but this clearly did not happen.
We can only speculate why not. Many who have been following the matter for years are convinced that it is only because they are protecting the real killer. What if the killers played a screenplay written for Taras Birsa?
We recommend the creator of Taras Birsa, Tadej Golob, not to confuse his fictions with reality.
Petra Janša is a journalist for Demokracija magazine.