By: Davorin Kopše
Last week, we listened to rehearsals of brawling at Medved’s Parliamentary Committee, which is interfering in the work and organisation of the police and exerts pressure to keep politics out of the police. Namely, they were afraid to remove all left-wing subjects in leadership positions at various levels in police units. To make the brawling louder, former director general Tatjana Bobnar was invited as a witness, who poured out all her accumulated emotions after being replaced at the top of the police.
In her introductory speech, Tatjana Bobnar said that she had brought to the National Assembly the voice of all those who had been harassed by the police for the last two years. Bobnar claims that the police were more successful in her time and had greater public support. Of course, she forgot to mention that in her time, the police worked in a left-wing style and internal issues were not discussed at all.
Police skeletons have started falling out of closets in the last two years as significant positive changes have begun to take place in the police. Analyses were made of how the police had acted in the past and why important cases remained at the bottom of the drawers. One of the glaring examples is the billion-dollar laundering of Iranian money in Nova ljubljanska banka for the needs of terrorism. Another such example is the banking hole, where evidence of responsibility and crime was found by Logar’s commission of inquiry.
However, we have evidence that the police were intensively involved in monitoring dissident politicians. An example is the numerous lists of insights into the records of the then opposition MPs and others (e.g., Jožef Horvat, NSi). Well, at that time, the police also regularly reported to Minister Boštjan Poklukar on operational activities, including personal data to which the Minister is not entitled. When Minister Hojs took office, this way of working of the police was abolished. Only those who need it in connection with the performance of their work are entitled to information.
The key people responsible for illegal and questionable actions in the police have been gradually replaced. Suddenly, left-wing politics no longer have open access to what is happening in the police, so they called it harassment. Suddenly, it became a problem because those politically loyal to them were redeployed to jobs that are still important and appropriate in terms of their skills, but no longer have access to police operational records. Bobnar also talked about this in front of Medved’s benevolent smile.
When all this leaked to the public, it is perfectly normal that trust in the police has fallen. Other reasons are that both Tatjana Bobnar and other left-wing supporters are doing everything they can to portray the work of the police as bad, because they are no longer in charge. The constant advocacy of trade unionists who want to interfere politically in the work of the police does not help to trust the work of the police. And Bobnar did just that at the commission once again.
She even repeated the lie that Minister Hojs insulted the police officers with laziness and bullying. In this way, she stepped in to defend those few police officers who put spokes in their wheel all the time in the shelter of the union, but do not want to work operatively in the performance of police duties. These are obviously lazy people who, due to not/work, appropriate an inappropriate status. Of course, they are not ready to give up the allowances that come to authorised officials – police officers.
There is talk, and rumours are repeated in front of the commission
Bobnar also cried on Medved’s shoulder about the rumours. According to the former director general of the police, there was talk (rumours) that a special collaborator was investigating her past work to determine possible mistakes and illegalities. In addition to being infantile on the investigator to talk about rumours, it is also ridiculous to challenge a review of your past work if you think everything is fine. In addition, she informed a special group of prosecutors about the allegations and rumours. Dear God.
Representative of Antolović and Gantar
A witness before the commission of inquiry testified how difficult it was for David Antolović, a former employee of the Economic Crime Department, because he was removed from his position. The witness said that he suffers from the mentions in the tweets and because a criminal complaint was sent against him to the prosecutor’s office with the announcement of negligent work in the service, which was rejected within a month. If anyone is suffering, it is Bobnar’s listener who is not Medved.
A listener suffers when the former director of the police emphasises before the parliamentary commission of inquiry how terrible the pressure on the work of the police is the fine of a former politician Pavel Gantar, because he publicly announced that the police were a gang dropping tear gas through Ljubljana. The commission, of course, does not say exactly what this gentleman wrote. They only say he was fined for criticising the work of the police. The interrogation continued in the wake of the political interests of the leftists before the elections and the crying of the servants of this policy.
Bobnar does not know the law on public gatherings
Of course, they could not ignore the actions of the police during the violent protests in Ljubljana, where the police used water jets, tear gas, and other coercive means. Former police director Tatjana Bobnar assured that the police would have acted differently if she were still the director. Bobnar said that according to the Labour Act and the tasks of the police, the police should stop their activities when the violations stop.
It really says so in the Act, however, the problem is elsewhere. The police found that at the protest massive violations of public order and peace occurred as well as blocking of public road traffic. Under the Public Assemblies Act, they are obliged to call for an end to violations in such cases. They did so. As the protesters did not stop the violations, the police dissolved the rally in accordance with the law and called on the participants to leave the scene. This is a lawful order of the police, which must be followed by all present without objection. Even those who were not involved.
As those present disobeyed the lawful order of the police, the police continued to use the coercive means necessary to carry out the order. The violation therefore did not stop with the cessation of throwing granite cubes but continued because the protesters disobeyed a lawful order. There was also an accusation of using tear gas in places where there were no people. Well, sometimes it is also necessary to do this if there is a danger that violent protesters will return after the withdrawal. As far as is known, they were furious and close all the time.
Udba member on the investigator
The day before, when the Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, was questioned before the same commission, Jakob Demšar, a former Udba employee, was also present. The Minister did not want to testify before an Udba member, so he asked if Demšar was really an associate of Udba. The president of the investigator, Rudi Medved, did not allow an answer, saying that this did not concern the interrogated. He explained that Jakob Demšar is an expert associate of the commission.
This gentleman was also present on the day of Tatjana Bobnar’s interrogation, which is unusual. All witnesses testify before the commission of inquiry and not before the experts, so they should not be present during the interrogation in the courtroom. It is an abuse and pressure on a witness, who gets the feeling that he must speak in front of some strangers in the National Assembly, who are not MPs or members of the commission of inquiry, but at least in some cases are faces of former political police. In this way, it seems to man that history repeats itself, at least in some segments. We have a lot of work to do.
Davorin Kopše is a war veteran for Slovenia, a candidate for MEP and an active citizen.