By: Davorin Kopše
After all the mess that accompany Branko Masleša’s career as a judge, the public has learned in recent days that this controversial judge is also a chess master. This could explain his actions and attitude towards everything he is connected with. According to experts, real chess in an individual game starts only after exhausted combinations from the literature. The unresolved educational status of Masleša as the Supreme Judge has apparently moved into a field that is not provided for by regulations. Who will be better in the future, Masleša or the profession?
If it were not absurd, we could say that Branko Masleša is a genius, because no one can do anything to him. After the third version of his diploma and certificate of passing the bar exam was shown, some legal lawyers even started nodding. Out of sheer helplessness, they began to admit that the documents were probably genuine. They may be genuine, but it remains unclear why Masleša or the Supreme Court provided the public with three different copies. Doubt therefore remains, which does not strengthen trust.
Masleša is undoubtedly embarrassed by the fact that he completed a two-year internship in one year. During Yugoslavia, Masleša became a judge in Slovenia based on a bar exam he supposedly passed in Bosnia, which was not valid in other Yugoslav republics.
An emergency session of the Justice Committee last Friday also officially revealed the plight of the Judicial Council, which has identified itself as impotent. The President of the Judicial Council, Vladimir Horvat, stated in the National Assembly that the Judicial Council is not competent to determine whether Masleša has a diploma and a bar exam or not. It should be noted that the Judicial Council is divided into three areas of work: the Ethics and Integrity Commission, the Disciplinary Bodies, and the Electoral Commission. The question arises as to what makes the assessment in other cases if it is argued that verification procedures do not exist.
Hopefully, this commission does not think that Masleša’s response to the doubt about his fulfilment of the conditions for holding the judicial office is ethical. Do they really think that the statement that it is beneath his honour to show his degree is an expression of a man who boasts a high degree of integrity? Given all the circumstances of what has happened so far, it is imperative to get to the bottom of it. Namely, the last shown documentation is disputable due to the time distance from the request for submission to the unfolding of the third version.
Attack on the judicial branch
It is just amazing how quickly some can judge. At the committee, Maša Kociper from the SAB party was horrified that some of us demanded appropriate explanations and undoubted confirmation that Masleša meets all the conditions for holding such an important position as the Supreme Judge. Kociper immediately described this as an attack on the judicial branch of government. As if the saints themselves are there and are untouchable as far as anything is concerned.
According to Maša Kociper, clarifying the status of a judge and whether he is even entitled to be there is interfering in the work of the third branch of government. If Kociper wants us to have judges whose integrity we doubt, she is well on her way. This MP did not even think that Masleša has the right to refute all suspicions. He also has procedural rights. Much like a defendant in court who has the right to a fair trial. But first, the judges must judge him without a shadow of a doubt in their integrity, which is not the case for Masleša. The problem is also in the judgment of the National Assembly. This, of course, is not true, and politics must show an interest in clearing up contentious issues.
In her opinion, Maša Kociper was joined by an eminent lawyer, who also happens to be an MP, Tina Heferle from the LMŠ party. This MP also announced an obstruction for Kociper herself because she does not want to talk about problems in the judiciary. She boasted that in this way the LMŠ defends the level of the rule of law and the level of legislation. Whatever that means in the context under consideration. She added that she would not take part in the debate in this way, although it would be necessary. Let’s understand if we can, if we cannot, we can laugh.
The President of the Judicial Council pointed out that he found it unusual that Branko Masleša was not invited to the session. He may be a little right, but Masleša himself stated that, given his function/position, he finds it beneath his honour to explain the circumstances surrounding his education. We know that so far, he has given statements only to the media, which are strongly in his favour. So far, no one has asked him how it is that he can be a judge in Slovenia with a bar exam from Bosnia, which is not valid in Slovenia. Perhaps this is also the most important issue, as it is precisely because of this that there is a strong suspicion that it has already been raised by politics (CK ZK) due to special interests.
Subsequently, the President of the Judicial Council wrapped Masleša’s case in darkness. According to him, they are not competent because there is no procedure for verifying documents. This may not really be the case, but as a body dealing with moral principles and integrity, we should define whether uncertainty is acceptable. Moreover, after all this, as I have stated above, it is necessary to ask how they act in other cases. The Judicial Council did express the expectation that Masleša would show the documentation, which he did, but… all these turned out to be ineffective due to justified doubts.
One by one, they are making excuses that they are not competent, that they cannot do anything, and the like. So, who will solve the problem? Maybe time? Masleša is retiring. Is it possible that everyone is trying to procrastinate to solve the problem in a natural way? Even if Masleša manages to retire, this will not remove the shadow that has fallen on the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia and the judiciary in this case. Do judges not have to meet the conditions of employment to hold a position?
Given that Masleša showed documents from his own archives after all the previous launches of various documents, the question arises as to whether the employer (Supreme Court) does not have this documentation. It was also mentioned in the National Assembly that Masleša went through several appointment procedures. He was treated by the parliamentary election commission. To the best of my knowledge, each decision-making body examines certain documentation and archives it after the decision-making process. This is necessary due to the possible subsequent need to clarify their decisions.
What are they hiding?
After all the above, it is impossible that evidence of Masleša’s conditions for holding the position of Supreme Judge is unavailable. And to anyone. Really amazing and incomprehensible. We have the fact that Masleša is where he is, on the other hand, that no one has access to his personal file where we can find out if key things are missing. What are they hiding? There are too many questions about Masleša to just ignore.
If I go back to the chess game; Masleša should run out of time, but it looks like the clock flag will fall on the opposite side. Now, Masleša is holding everyone on the other side of the chessboard in a stalemate. We cannot go back and forth because we have run out of “by the book” moves, and this is the goal of Masleša. In the whole matter, the idea is imposed that in fact the grandmaster is playing with dilettantes. The game has turned into a phase when everyone is running out of material resources, and Masleša does not need them because of that.
Davorin Kopše is a war veteran for Slovenia, a candidate for MEP and an active citizen.