By: Dr Stane Granda
The attacks on Logar’s “Skok” are significant. We are not defending him, but we are shaken by the judiciary’s unwillingness to confront the real situation. With the help of “independent” media, especially RTVS, it is firing at him with everything its ideological‑political arsenal contains.
Few things reflect the state of society as completely as the judiciary itself. As part of the authorities, it demands unconditional respect. It can rely only on the fact that it exists, not on merit. Fair trial is a duty, not a kindness. Acknowledging and regretting mistakes and errors, which are a normal result of human work, is the beginning of an exit from tragic circumstances.
Much can be reproached to the judiciary. One of the most tragic cases is that of Bratuša from Maribor, who at the end of the 19th century was convicted of murdering, dismembering, roasting, and eating his daughter. The emperor did not confirm the death sentence. He was freed from prison by a confessor, and the daughter was found alive and well in Novo Mesto.
From the interwar period, the Šenčur events of 1932 are known, when demonstrators demanded for Slovenes “national individuality, name, flag, ethnic community, financial independence, and cultural freedom, as well as a republic and a Slovenian state.” The “instigator,” the dean of Kranj, Škrbec, served his sentence in the notorious Glavnjača and Sremska Mitrovica together with leading communists. A dirty role was played by the poet and then‑judge Alojz Gradnik.
There were more than 1,000 lawyers among the partisans. They were drowned out by the revolution, which manifested itself in judicial killings in the Kočevje trials of 1943 and elsewhere. Lawyer Marko Vrhunec was a commissar in the Šentvid camp, from where thousands of Slovenes were sent to their deaths.
The Party initially ruled the judiciary with the help of prosecutors. When it had enough supporters among judges, they had to follow its instructions. The annulment of numerous post‑war verdicts due to procedural errors, including those involving executions, says a lot. The existing situation is the result of deliberate staffing by the former totalitarian regime. In it, only “ours” typically occupy decisive positions.
The number of extrajudicial wartime and post‑war killings amounts to around 20,000. The prosecution and judiciary did not identify or convict a single murderer. Schizophrenic!
Let us recall the unfortunate farmer Uhernik from Stopiče, who sat in prison for almost 10 years despite being innocent. His wife died; his family fell apart. After independence, lawyer J. Hribernik succeeded in securing his acquittal. The murderer was not found, even though the Gorjanci woods shouted his name. The instigator of the murder of the Roma women from Dobruška vas was never discovered, although the whole village knew who it was.
Slovenian independence and democratisation had little or no impact on the judiciary. Almost no one was prosecuted for theft and destruction of social property. The mayor of Ljubljana has publicly declared for years that he does not need to fear the judiciary. The cases of the pharmacist and the selling of air are not criminal. Let us recall what Franc Kangler went through. Janez Janša was saved by a Constitutional Court that was not inclined toward him. Not to mention the case of Dr Novič, who was tormented for years. The defence pointed to the likely perpetrator. Nothing. But judge Radonjić, who acquitted him, was endlessly humiliated. How very different the attitude is toward the head of Fotopub!
The prosecution was, at its founding, an organ that represents the interests of the state before independent courts. Hence state prosecutors. For some time now they have been “public,” just as the communist authorities were “people’s.” The police also want to be “independent.” This is nonsense; it cannot be, as it is an organ of whichever authority is in power, claimed the late P. Čelik.
European bodies have warned Slovenia that corruption must be prosecuted more vigorously. Around four billion euros are said to disappear annually because of it. How much better would we live with that money? Who lives off it?
It is increasingly clear that the judiciary is the central problem of independent Slovenia. If what it claims to be were to prevail, this would have a positive effect on other segments of society. The values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law would prevail. Bratuša, Uhernik, Novič, as well as Kangler and Janša, were ultimately acquitted by the judiciary. The state it is in was created by politics and ideology. These must help it emerge from this state. The problem is that those who should be the first to ensure the elimination of unhealthy conditions are the ones rejecting this.