Former Prime Minister and president of the LMŠ Party Marjan Šarec, was once again spreading lies and belittling the current Prime Minister Janez Janša in front of the Slovenian public. “Janez Janša was skiing in Italy on February 28th, 2020, as we all know. And as you pointed out, this is important, because the report states that the key problem was that those who returned from their skiing trips did not go into quarantine,” Šarec said on the show Odmevi, thus inadmissibly violating the rights of Janez Janša to the protection of reputation and good name. Marjan Šarec obviously does not know how to read dates, as Janez Janša shared a photo from a ski trip in 2019!
Marjan Šarec apparently still believes that he is the main sheriff in his hometown Kamnik. Therefore, he blabbers and insults the current Prime Minister at every opportunity. Among other things, he also calls for illegal gatherings in public places, thus endangering the health of all Slovenian citizens, with his advisor Damir Črnčec. The lies must end, starting with the ones that were said by Šarec on the show
Odmevi, about Janez Janša and his family’s ski trip to Italy this year. In fact, the picture that Janša shared was from a ski trip to Italy in 2019.
Therefore, attorney Franci Matoz sent an appeal to the Member of the National Parliament and the president of the LMŠ party, Marjan Šarec, to immediately withdraw the statement he made in the show Odmevi, and to stop violating the personal rights of individuals. We are publishing the full document below.
Mr. Šarec,
On behalf of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Janez Janša, we ask you to immediately withdraw the following statement, with which you have unacceptably violated the rights of our client to the protection of reputation and good name.
Article 35 of the Constitution ensures the inviolability of the physical and mental integrity of every person and his privacy and personality. The established position of the Constitutional Court is that the right of an individual to the protection of honor and good name or reputation is also one of the human rights which are protected as personal rights by this constitutional provision. Reputation and good name are personal rights that are also recognized by law for the legal entities and are protected by Article 183 of the Obligations Code, which provides for fair monetary compensation to a legal person for damaging their reputation or good name.
You violated the right to protection of reputation and good name of our client with the following untrue and harmful statement, which you made on May 7th, 2020, in the show Odmevi, which was broadcast on TV Slovenija: “That Janez Janša was skiing in Italy on February 28th, 2020, which everyone knows.” You also emphasized that this was important, “because the report states that the key problem was that those who returned from their skiing trips did not go into quarantine.”
Your statement is completely untrue and made solely with the intention of damaging the reputation and good name of our client, who is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Janez Janša, repeatedly publicly explained to the media, and on his social media profiles, that on February 28th, 2020, he published a symbolic photo from a ski trip on the social network Twitter, which was actually taken in February 2019, so last year. You made an untrue statement with the sole intention of harming the reputation of our client as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, as you wanted to create an impression for the audience that our client carelessly went skiing to Italy during the COVID-19 epidemic, which is not true, as our client was already warning at the time, that you are not implementing the necessary measures to protect the life and health of the population of the Republic of Slovenia.
There is no doubt that with your statement, you have unlawfully harmed the reputation and good name of our client. Despite the fact that the limits of freedom of expression in such debates are wide, the limits of freedom of expression cannot protect consciously untrue claims about facts that damage the reputation and good name of our client. We must not overlook the fact that the statement was made at the very moment when the subject of discussion of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia is the report in which you are accused of negligent work, so this statement has a great impact on the viewers.
In view of the above, we demand that you immediately stop violating the personal rights of our client by withdrawing the aforementioned statement in accordance with Article 178. of the Obligations Code, otherwise we will be forced to file a lawsuit against you. You must revoke the statement in the same way you made it.
Luka Perš