By: P.T.
As inaccurate information also appears in public regarding the former founding member of the Association of Journalists and Publicists (ZNP) Borut Meško and his fate at the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), the ZNP Board of Directors published the following explanation today:
Borut Meško had been the editor-in-chief of STA since 2007. When Bojan Veselinovič became director in 2009, he began to exert severe, and according to the ZNP also politically motivated pressures on Meško, which had all the hallmarks of harassment and mobbing.
At that time, because of this the ZNP publicly protested several times, and also demanded a dismissal of Veselinovič from the government of Borut Pahor, which appointed him at the first place. This did not happen, however, the government coalition, at the suggestion of Minister Majda Širca from Zares party, even passed a law on the Slovenian Press Agency, which further consolidated Veselinovič’s position and practically secured him a ten-year term.
As Meško did not want to bow down, Veselinovič dismissed him from the position of editor-in-chief and fired him in November 2009. Just at the time he was fired, Meško was undergoing examinations at the Oncology Institute, where he learned a serious illness had reoccurred. Thus he had to be treated without means of subsistence. He filed a lawsuit against STA in the Labour and Social Court, but did not reach a judicial epilogue, as he had died earlier. After his death, a settlement was reached in court, on the basis of which the STA had to pay Meško’s family the amount that Meško would have received if Veselinovič had not fired him. According to the ZNP, Veselinovič should have reimbursed the amount to the STA, but this did not happen.
Meško was a founding member of the ZNP and its first secretary. In memory of his work and upright posture, the ZNP awards Borut Meško’s Honorary Awards every year.
You can read more about Meško here: In memory of Borut Meško – here