According to the latest information, the unknown perpetrators addressed the mail, which contained death threats and even high-calibre bullets, to at least six different addresses. First, the information was made public that Prime Minister Janez Janša and Minister of Defence Matej Tonin received the aforementioned packages at their home addresses, and then the Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs, president of the SNS party Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, and two deputy groups in the National Assembly, DeSUS and SNS, also confirmed that they received the mail with the same contents on Monday. The seventh package with the same content, which was supposedly addressed to SMC president Zdravko Počivalšek, was intercepted with an X-ray machine at the post office. How did the mail even reach the recipients? The Post of Slovenia says that they acted in accordance with the rules. And while the coalition in the National Assembly unanimously condemned the actions of the unknown perpetrators, the opposition’s left-wing quartet – the so-called Constitutional Arch Coalition – remained silent (for the time being), with the exception of Tanja Fajon.
Former police officer and Minister of the Interior, Dr Vinko Gorenak, admitted that we are witnessing an increase in threats of violence, especially threats against the high political representatives, that have become quite common in the last year and a half. He believes that such death threats should be taken very seriously. “In 2012/2013, during the second Janša government, the number of such threats was similar to the current number. I myself was directly threatened with death, so the police provided additional protection, as I was the Minister of the Interior at the time. A typical phenomenon is that the number of such threats is high, much higher during the times of right-wing governments, especially during the times of Janša governments, and the number of such threats is much smaller or almost negligible during the times of left-wing governments being in power. This says everything and more about left-wing political extremism,” said the current State Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, who is in charge of Coordination between the Government and the National Assembly.
Although it seems at first glance that the senders of such anonymous shipments are difficult to track down, Gorenak says that his experience was positive and that the police tracked down several perpetrators at his suggestion (as it is a legal condition that the police cannot act without the victim’s request). “There were also court proceedings, and they all ended in my favour. However, this is not always the case; the police cannot always track down such extremists,” says Dr Gorenak.
Failure to act leads to the worst violence
And how else should the police act, according to Dr Gorenak? After all, two strangers even tried to enter Minister Tonin’s house during the latest protests. “If I am properly informed, this was actually a coincidence, and not an intended action, related to Wednesday’s protests. The mentioned protesters were supposedly actual representatives of the T2 company, but it is true that they were detained during Wednesday’s protests, according to my information. Failure to act can, of course, even lead to the worst type of violence. The question, however, is who should act. If you look at the police measures, you will find that there have been quite a few of them; some were annulled by the Constitutional Court, some by prosecutors, and nothing has happened in the courts so far. The violent demonstrations in 2012 and 2013 received practically no epilogue in the courts,” Dr Gorenak remembered the period of the second Janša government, whose stability was affected by the all-Slovenian uprisings.
The responsibility lies with the left-wing political spectrum
And who is most responsible for the current state of mind in our society? “This is the real question that requires an honest answer. First and foremost, it is politics – to be more precise, the left-wing spectrum of politics. When the media published articles about threats that were made against Janez Janša, Matej Tonin, and some other politicians, we saw the reactions of Tanja Fajon (SD), Marjan Šarec (LMŠ), Luka Mesec (Levica), and Alenka Bratušek (SAB). And by the way, I believe that these are the most serious threats made against politicians to date, as they have added real bullets to the threatening letters this time. And how did these politicians react? Fajon condemned the threats on her Twitter profile but cynically added that Janša and Tonin were actually to blame. So, what was the message she sent to the perpetrators? You could say that it was – please continue.”
Here is what Tanja Fajon wrote on her Twitter profile in response to the threats made against politicians of the current government: “An act that should be condemned. Such threats to politicians, their families, or anyone else in our society are unacceptable. I strongly condemn them. Whoever is adding fuel to the fire, which has now caused us to reach such a worrying level of people’s anger, dissatisfaction, intolerance, or even despair in our society, is also to blame for this.”
Gorenak also pointed out that Marjan Šarec and Luka Mesec did not respond to the reports of the threats at all, which, according to him, means that they are also sending the message to the perpetrators to continue with their threats. “I do not know what Bratušek did because she blocked me on Twitter, just as she blocked all other people with the surname Gorenak, just in case.”
An MP was recently murdered in Britain
A defence expert, Dr Vladimir Prebilič from the Faculty of Social Sciences, also commented on the current situation for our country. He pointed out that we are currently witnessing an increase in similar situations all over Europe, which is by no means excusable. In democracies, disagreements, loss of trust and frustrations with political elites should be resolved in different ways: with protests (without violence and in a way that does not endanger others), in the National Assembly, which is a place for political fights, and especially in elections. “Every threat must be taken extremely seriously, as it can quickly turn into a tragedy – like in the case of the murder of a Member of Parliament in Great Britain. I believe that those in charge of security will take this situation seriously,” Prebilič pointed out.
Prebilič, who was also a guest on the show Razkrito (Revealed) in October, where he spoke about police actions at the protests, believes that the perpetrators will be difficult to find, as they usually carefully cover up their tracks. “However, the protocol for protected persons is clear and must ensure the safety of the person performing such a role. The protection of a person is still based on defensive tactics, which means that security measures must be implemented in a manner of minimal use of force or on its reciprocity,” added the current Mayor of Kočevje.
Unlike Gorenak, Prebilič believes that the reason for such a tense situation in our society is in three factors: the measures to limit the spread of the covid-19 disease are politicised to the extreme, which opens the door to various populist explanations and thus (too) many manipulations; the government was not very successful in communicating certain decisions that might have been better accepted and less stressful if they were presented with a different approach, and also, the political fight (of political parties from both the left-wing and right-wing spectrum has exceeded all reasonable measures, which intensifies the sense of emergency, which further enrages the public.
T.F.
