By: Janja Strah
In a recent confrontation on N1, the president of the Gibanje Svoboda party, Robert Golob, reiterated claims that the government is allegedly using state institutions for political purposes, so the party uses encrypted communication methods for communication purposes, such as those provided by Signal and the like. The Minister of Defence and the Minister of the Interior also acknowledged that for the purposes of communication in the parties, they act self-protectively and use an encrypted method of communication.
“I am convinced that they are trying to follow us in all possible ways, including the use of state institutions for political purposes,” said party president Robert Golob at a confrontation between the Gibanje Svoboda, SDS, SD and NSi parties, adding that encrypted communication methods are used because they do not want to make it easier for their opponents to access internal communications.
“Maybe we also have a person within their structures or a sympathiser, if you will, who informs us about it,” Golob said in response to how confident he can be that the government is using its position to eavesdrop on opponents. “Which is more important. This is not an accusation, unfortunately we live in such a country, and we all start behaving self-protectively. That is all.”
Both the Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs, who acted as the SDS representative, as well as the Minister of Defence and the President of the NSi Matej Tonin categorically rejected Golob’s accusations of abuse of power to settle accounts with opponents. Tonin emphasised that the system in Slovenia is robust and does not allow such embezzlement. Both Tonin and Hojs, however, allowed the possibility of Golob really being eavesdropped on if he is in pre-trial proceedings. Hojs pointed out that in such a case, the police can eavesdrop based on a court order.
Hojs and Tonin admitted that, like Golob, they use encrypted communication methods in their clients for internal communication. As Tonin explained, Slovenian politicians are currently the target of foreign intelligence services, which “gather information on how things will turn out in Slovenia.”
Surprisingly, the government’s vocal opponent and SD president Tanja Fajon did not side with Golob. “Certainly, without some concrete arguments and some evidence, this can be misleading, but I have not heard the answer and it is hard to judge,” Fajon said. The SD president added that in the past she had also been the target of foreign intelligence services, especially at a time when the EU was advocating the abolition of visas for the Western Balkans.
Golob expects to receive evidence of wiretapping after April 24th, 2022. “Then maybe the people we are talking about and are now sympathisers will decide to speak to the public.”