“We can predict one thing with 100 percent certainty – even a conviction will not crush him, nor will it undermine voters’ confidence in the Slovenian Democratic Party,” said the former Interior Minister, Dr Vinko Gorenak. He was commenting on the prosecution of Janez Janša, which continued on Tuesday at the Celje court. Given the past, he is convinced that this is a rigged trial, which he believes will end in a conviction.
The prosecution of the leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), Janez Janša, in the Trenta case, continued on Tuesday at the District Court in Celje. A support rally was scheduled in front of the court at 2 p.m., which Dr Vinko Gorenak had said would certainly serve as moral support, while at the same time arguing why Tuesday’s trial – like the others so far – is a show trial.
“The Trenta trial, which will continue on Tuesday, cannot be seen as just one trial, but must be seen in the context of the 160 or 170 proceedings against Janez Janša. We are not just talking about criminal proceedings – we are talking about proceedings before the courts and other proceedings – in short, there is a whole series of proceedings against him, and in this context, it has to be said that the most important and high-profile ones, such as Patria and some others, clearly show that those were rigged trials,” our interlocutor explained.
They were tried for something that is not a crime under law
Gorenak pointed out that people usually conclude that someone is guilty or innocent because of court costs, “but the [Patria] case is not like that, it is different, it was about the so-called costs of the proceedings, the costs of the lawyers, the costs of those accused, while the fact that the Patria trial was a rigged triač is clear,” Gorenak said, explaining why. “The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia said that the judges had judged in violation of Article 28 of the Constitution, and on that basis, they overturned the verdict, so to put it plainly – they were judging something that is not a crime. But to judge something that is not a crime is probably the worst thing a judge can do,” Gorenak pointed out one of the aspects of the trials against Janez Janša.
Article 28 of the Constitution says: “No one shall be punished for an act which the law has not made punishable by law and has not prescribed the punishment for before the act was committed.”
Another thing worth pointing out, according to Gorenak, is the time that has elapsed in relation to the Trenta case: “The case is practically 20 years old, as 10 years and more have already passed since the sale of the two buildings in question. From this point of view, we can see exactly that the prosecutor is pulling out all the stops in order to convict Janša after this time. If we now combine this with Zoran Janković, who boasted that he had “his own prosecutor”, we see that you can be guilty even if you are not, and you are not guilty even if you are,” Gorenak said, highlighting the pharmacist affair.
Gorenak believes that the judiciary is in a hurry with the trial because there is a possibility of a statute of limitations, and they are rushing, but it is difficult for him to comment on whether this is a deliberate act before the elections. “It is difficult for me to say, because I don’t know whether there will be (early) elections or not, but my personal opinion is that the early elections won’t happen. No, it is just my personal opinion, which is a matter of personal judgement,” he explained.
He went on to refer to the speculations of journalist Bojan Požar, saying that he believes that, at the moment, there is no judge in Slovenia who would dare to acquit Janša. “It would be a surprise to me if he were acquitted. I think he will be convicted, because the judge – even if she wanted to try him according to her conscience – would not dare to acquit him, because other judges would “eat her up”.”
Will the 2014 scenario repeat itself?
Gorenak is convinced that Janša will certainly appeal his conviction, but that the case will then go to a higher court, where two scenarios could happen. “They can send the case back for a retrial because of some little thing or some mistake, or they can decide that everything is fine. The sentence can be imprisonment, probation, fine or a combination of all, but it is enforceable,” he further explained, recalling that the same also happened in the 2014 trial. “The verdict was upheld at the Higher Court, he appealed to the Supreme Court, but the verdict was enforceable, so he went to prison,” said Gorenak, who has a lot of contact with judges due to the nature of his work. “The story of 2014 could repeat itself,” he added. Gorenak believes that the support of the people is welcome, especially from a moral point of view and as some pressure on the court, but that otherwise, the support of the people will not influence the court’s decision.
It certainly won’t crush him
Gorenak then went on to summarise his prediction in two key statements, saying that he would be “extremely surprised if an acquittal were to be upheld. Personally, I expect him to be convicted. And secondly – we can predict one thing with 100 percent certainty – even a conviction will not crush him, nor will it undermine voters’ confidence in the Slovenian Democratic Party,” Dr Gorenak predicted, recalling again the year 2014, when, after Janša went to prison, some thought that the SDS party was finished – but confidence in the party was only further strengthened.
Tanja Brkić
