Ljubljana – Judge Zvjezdan Radonjić, an intellectual, scientist, publicist, columnist, whose work has been published in many domestic and international publications, spoke with philosopher Aleš Ernecl about the problem of the judiciary, the deep state and the need for a strong right-wing political option. “In my own case, I have watched the leftists ruin my life for a year, in order to protect its personnel, and the right-wing came to my defense.” He pointed out that in doing so, the rightists chose the right side. “They sided with an option which has tried to oppose a situation that is generally less acceptable to any society and country.”
Zvjezdan Radonjić, who became known to the public after he bravely revealed how he was being pressured by the court and the prosecutor’s office, which demanded that Milko Novič be convicted of murder, touched on the situation in the field of economic crime, which often ends without an epilogue. “Not everything can be attributed to intentional violations. Most of the time, in such cases, subjective errors happen in the work of the authorities responsible for detecting and dealing with criminal matters, which is understandable, given the amount and complexity of work.”
According to Radonjić, this is a different spectrum of deficient conclusions arising from subjective reasons – insufficient professionalism, as well as from the high level of complexity of the processing of economic matters. He believes that many police inspectors, public prosecutors, and judges do not understand the economic norms and relations of commercial law to the necessary extent. “This is an enormous specter of demanding norms and relations of commercial law, to the necessary extent. It is an enormous range of demanding norms and relations that are even difficult for lawyers to master, so the prosecutors and judges are not properly trained for mastering them. Courses that would teach this, as many as there are, are insufficient, deficient, partial. Knowledge is presented incompletely, unsystematically. Abroad, they have assistants who regularly explain the matter to the judge who is not familiar with it.”
In Slovenia, we have some of the top economic lawyers who specialize in economic crimes, he pointed out, adding that they know the matter fat better than state prosecutors and judges. “They pay for and use the analyzes from the top economists, including foreign experts, which puts them in a privileged starting position. They dominate the process; they achieve exemptions. Personally, I see this as the reason for the larger part off the unrealized proceedings in court. There are many more cases like this than there are show trials, which of course, also exist.”
A media climate is being created at the will of economic and political elites
According to Radonjić, the operating of the media in Slovenia is largely unprofessional, deficient, and led by structures that have a lot to gain from it. “And in addition to all of this, the journalists do not know enough about the economy and are therefore unable to understand the trials. You know, they are under a lot of pressure from the editorial offices, which, if necessary, demand unilateral informing of the public, such that suits the owners, the sponsors of the media outlet. The owners and sponsors are usually exponents of certain companies. A journalist who starts working independently or in contradiction with the editorial policy is faced with the possibility of losing his job, as well as the fact that he might never get another job in this profession.” Radonjić also emphasized that this profession reflects the problem of general social morality. “The public is often misled, manipulated, and a media climate is being created at the will of economic and political elites, without any real effort to tell the truth. Sensationalism is popular since that is what sells the magazines, what is being reported is unobtrusive and often does not focus on the real problem. All of this negatively defines media space.”
Individuals from the police and prosecutors’ offices are the ones that take care of the occasional selective handling of economic crimes
Regarding the frequent appearing of certain persons in some proceedings, Radonjić said that in his belief, only certain selected individuals from the police and prosecutors’ offices are the ones that take care of the occasional selective handling of economic crimes. “If individual cases do not make their way to courts, even though they should have, the court cannot deal with them without a prosecutor. The reason for the inviolability of certain individuals often lies in their connections in the networks, which are strong enough to be able to influence the work of the police and public prosecutors. There is also a certain number of economic entities of significant importance (NLB, Petrol, Krka, Revoz, Sava), which are of general state interest, but as a rule, they are often not exposed to punitive measures.”
Radonjić also pointed out that we were recently able to follow a case of a prestigious company that evidently bribed individuals from abroad, which obviously represents its general modus operandi wherever it works, but the legal proceedings abroad were stopped. “You can imagine the impact this entity has in Slovenia. It brings large sums of money into the state budget. It is also worth noting that this is a company that has also appeared in the background of the Novič case. I also know about a case from 2018, in which one of the inspection services was banned from carrying out inspections in selected business entities by their superiors. They made up for this by punishing the less privileged more frequently. Which, of course, is not permissible by the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia,” he emphasized.
Regarding the case of laundering Iranian money, Radonjić indicated that this could be a typical example of activities with which a domestic financial institution earns tax-free money, which it does not show in its balance sheets. Luxembourg seems to be one big financial oasis. “The recapitalization of commercial banks with public funds is also not our own invention. This was a predominant intervention which many of the key EU countries used, notably Germany, when rescuing commercial banks in order to launder the portfolios of losses of privileged economic elites, playing into excessive speculation and thereby endangering entire economies. Behind their selective actions are, with almost zero exceptions, influential economic, political deep-state circles and interests, which influence the police and the prosecutors’ offices through the command lines, by recruiting loyal personnel for the appropriate positions.” According to Radonjić, a side effect of all this is a paralysis of the system, which is no longer capable of consistent professional action, which further affects the state.
In the cases of offenses by the privileged structures, the justice system works in a limited capacity or to no effect
A country which does not control its elites, gradually get soaked through with irregularities, Radonjić stressed, adding that therefore, the country becomes incapable of proper systemic functioning, porous, entangled in a web of its own destructiveness. “The citizens start perceiving a state of inequality before the law, which negatively affects the people’s attitude towards work, creativity, honest life, their respect for values. Educated people and young people leave such countries, and the country, therefore, loses its best personnel.” They leave in the pursuit of orderly, more productive living environments. “Such a country becomes subject to the interests of better-organized countries, losing the economic and other forms of independence. In the last stages of disintegration, to which we have fortunately not come yet, official state and economic structures merge with underground and criminal groups, and we no longer have an independent country, but a banana republic. The reason for the state of partial paralysis of the judiciary system lies in what I just said. Namely, the ordinary, less important matters are resolved legally, and a limited number of privileged ones are dealt with outside the law.”
“As a whole, we can say that the justice system in our country works. Which is extremely relative. It works in most cases but to a limited or almost no effect in the cases of privileged structures breaking the law.” Such state of operating is accompanied and enabled by negative selection, in which moral and quality personnel do not get employed, but rather, “flexible” individuals are put in the responsible positions, who are willing and ready to act at any time, according to the needs of the privileged, influential structures. “Basically, they follow the orders from higher up, usually from their superiors, court instances, and court officials. This is not a dominant rule, but there is a problem, and it is important.”
When asked about how to make the situation right again, Radonjić said that the elites represent the necessary increments of modern global society, as they are hyper-productive and profit-oriented. “The elites will rule as long as the current system is in place. They brought about the socialist revolutions that would eliminate this type of elite but installed other elites which proved to be equally corrupt, but less capable. And we were back to neoliberalism. Perhaps the solution was what was going on in the USA during the New Deal, the major economic crisis. I am referring to the consensus of the elites. At some point, the elites realize that the economic and social situation is so tragic that they have to give up a lot. Enormous assets from the minority spill over into the funds of the majority. Elite consensus can be best achieved in politics. The so-called state forces, which are currently very important in Hungary and elsewhere, must come to power, the so-called right, which must have enough power to deal with these problems and at least partly eliminate the gross and catastrophic effects of the phenomena of elites. Of course, it needs to be able to deal with elites and bring the country to a state of lesser tolerance for corruption, fabricated court proceedings, accusations that have not been filed but should have been, in short – it must clear the channels of previous commands and eliminate the negative selection.”
Radonjić then talked about the last time he was in Hungary when he could clearly see that the country has made significant progress. “I was there ten years ago. It is incomparable. This is now a country with the maximum order, free of crime, clutter, problems with migrants, and all the rest. When walking through Hungarian cities, one can quickly notice that the cities are modern, with a big supply of world-class items, relatively cheap and life-friendly, and above all, that unemployment has practically been eliminated.”
The right-wing came to my defense and picked the right side
Radonjić pointed out that he has never been a member of any political party and has never been operationally involved in politics. He was having a very hard time when he was being severely attacked by the left or its parts and newspapers, which he associated with the activities of these financial elites that work in the background. “Back then, the right-wing came to my defense, which surprised me. Until then, I did not have a particularly favorable opinion of them. I saw them as some retrograde force, focused on history. Obviously, I was wrong.” He also pointed out that the only thing that can succeed is success itself. “As soon as the current Government will be able to start gradually improving the situation in our country, just like what Viktor Orban has done for Hungary, this will reduce the impact of the propaganda, and the right-wing option will become an acceptable option for the general public, as well as the leftists.”
The right-wing parties should modernize, worry less about the past, and work harder for economic equality, he believes. If the Slovenian right will be able to revolutionize itself under these conditions, Radonjić is convinced that it will establish itself as a suitable political option for many decades to come, as long as it manages to remain pure and continues with its work. “In my own case, I have watched the leftists ruin my life for a year, in order to protect its personnel, and the right-wing came to my defense. Some say they did it because of their own political needs. However, even if that is the case, they chose the right side, they sided with an option which has tried to oppose a situation that is generally less acceptable to any society and country. I could be a leftist a thousand times over, but if the right in a certain country works for the good of its nation and not for the good of the underground globalist deep-state elites, then, of course, I will absolutely support the right.”