By: Andrej Žitnik (Nova24tv.si)
When personnel changes were taking place in the police force in the previous government, the mainstream media – led by justice fighter Jure Tepina on 24ur programme – wrote that it was a degradation of the police and the demolition of the foundations of the rule of law. In Robert Golob’s government, the Minister of the Interior also resigned because, according to her claims, the Prime Minister put pressure on personnel changes in the police – and not just some unimportant changes, but also those that could have a significant impact on how the investigations against the Prime Minister himself will be carried out. Now, apparently, Boštjan Lindav, one of Tatjana Bobnar’s allies, has also “underwent penal transfer”. But the media reports as if it is a completely normal personnel change.
The dominant media report that the acting Director General of the Police Senad Jušić decided on the first moves of some employees from the police management, whereby the former first man of the Slovenian Police Boštjan Lindav should, according to their information, end up in the office at the Škofja Loka Police Station.
As they write, they do not have any free office in Litostrojska (!?). Lindav began his career as a police officer at the Kranj Police Station in 1990, graduated from the Faculty of Police and Security Sciences, and later obtained a Master’s degree from the Faculty of State and European Studies.
A useful idiot
“Boštjan Lindav was considered to be a useful idiot by the left. First, in 2020-2022, he brought them information from the police and acted against its leadership and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. Then they pulled him out of Tacen to clean up the police force, now they threw him away after being used and sent him back to Tacen.” This is how MP Žan Mahnič, former state secretary for national security in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, commented on the dismissal of the former general director of the police, Boštjan Lindav.
Eulogies of left-wing MPs
Let’s remember when he was replaced by a right-wing government and later, when he was a temporary acting director of the police under Golob’s government, the left-wing opposition did not stop talking about his exceptionalism. The member of the Levica Party, Nataša Sukič, called Lindav a great expert and a man of great integrity, a real gem of the Slovenian police, during a hearing in the parliament. Now, when Golob not only removed him, but in a package with Bobnar even degraded and personally humiliated him, it is different.
Game of Thrones
Let us remind you that the game of thrones in the Slovenian police has been going on ever since Golob’s government took over the reins of the executive power on June 1st, 2022. The government reappointed Boštjan Lindav as acting Director General of the Police last December, but his mandate was limited to a maximum of six months. Lindav was thus not granted a full mandate, which was otherwise desired by the Minister of the Interior, Tatjana Bobnar. According to N1, the reason was the opposition of Prime Minister Robert Golob. In his circles, Lindav and Tatjana Bobnar are accused of not having “cleansed” the police, and in addition to all this, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Damir Črnčec, was said to be putting pressure on Bobnar.
Lindav and Bobnar “cleaned” too slowly
After strained relations with Prime Minister Robert Golob, the Minister announced that she would tender her resignation. Among the reasons for her decision, Bobnar stated that the Prime Minister did not want to confirm the members of her team – namely, he rejected the proposal to appoint the police chief Lindav to this position with a full mandate, and the restoration of trust was said to be conditional on the “dismissal of a certain person from the police”. Golob asked Lindav for a report on the alleged political pressures – which he got. Lindav wrote a specifically incriminating report for the government and the Prime Minister, which talked about how he was met before the meeting by the Prime Minister’s security guard Miloš Njegoslav Milović, who had never officially been employed by the government or public administration in general. Later, Lindav watered down the report – apparently under pressure from the Prime Minister – but it did not help. Together with Bobnar, they fell out of favour because, according to the police, they did not “clean up” fast enough. Lindav otherwise servilely and obligingly carried out all the dirty revanchist works of Golob’s government – he and Bobnar destroyed the highway police ad hoc, as a result of which the number of traffic accidents increased significantly, and without any evidence they defamed the cadres appointed in Janša’s government in a politically extremely wasteful way. But it was not enough. They were no longer of any use for the master.
Perhaps Lindav will have enough time and peace in Škofja Loka to reflect on what kind of government he himself helped enthrone and perhaps – too late – experience the same flashback as Boris Yeltsin, when he finally realised his mistake in the summer of 2000, that he also personally contributed to the rise of his successor – Vladimir Putin.
We addressed the following questions to the Levica party:
Your MP Nataša Sukič sang the praises of Boštjan Lindav, the acting General Director of the Police at the time, saying that he was a great expert with great integrity, a gem of the Slovenian police. Lindav was recently demoted and personally humiliated by being transferred to Škofja Loka by a coalition whose member you are. Please give your comment. Do you still insist on the assessment that he is a great expert, and do you agree with the fact that the current acting Director General appointed by your government degraded him like that?