Luka Svetina, a journalist with the Domovina magazine (Homeland), was recently visited at his home by police officers – because he was reporting on the situation in the Dob Prison, which is run by Zoran Remic. Svetina responded that this was a clear attempt of intimidation by the police, who also wanted to get information about who in the prison was the source of the information the journalist had obtained.
Police intimidation of journalists has never been more widespread than during the government of Robert Golob, who promised to free the country from “Janšaism”. But no such intimidation happened under the previous government of Janez Janša, or all the alarms would have been sounding – from the ones of Slovenian non-governmental organisations to those of the organisations in Brussels.
This time, the police stopped at the home of Luka Svetina, a journalist with the Domovina magazine, who formerly also worked for our media outlet, Nova24TV. Svetina has repeatedly reported on the catastrophic situation in the Dob Prison complex, where judicial police officers are chronically understaffed, and where many have already been put on sick leave last year due to burnout.
The head of the prison, Zoran Remic, sent a request for a correction to the Domovina magazine, and he then even filed a criminal complaint against the media outlet for “insulting accusations.” The Trebnje police station, which is investigating the suspected offence, then requested information from the Domovina magazine on where the figures on the imprisoned persons were obtained and how the data on the employees’ performance payments were obtained.
Meanwhile, the Jesenice police officers knocked on Svetina’s door while he was at work, and then managed to summon him on the phone, explaining that he had to report to the Trebnje police station.
“For me, this situation is part of the journalistic profession that I have been doing all my life in the interest of the public. As a journalist, I always defend the public’s right to be informed, and the staffing situation in the prison system is a very well-known topic to the public, so I thought it prudent to draw attention to all the problems that our sources, the judicial police officers, face on a daily basis. I have, however, been warned that Zoran Remic is vindictive; the fact that he reported us to the police station may, in my opinion, indicate that he is indeed vindictive, but as I said before, we have presented a counter-factual picture, and I have never disclosed my sources in my career, and I do not intend to disclose them in the future,” Svetina said.
C. Š.
