When the first doubts regarding the qualifications of Supreme Court Judge Branko Masleša arose, the Supreme Court responded with a threat, stating that the judge would prosecute all journalists who are writing about or researching the matter, and in addition, the court also prejudged that Masleša would win the case, and added that he would donate all of his proceeds to charity. Now the President of the Supreme Court, Damijan Florjančič, says that in the future, they will not respond to messages related to such issues – but he also regrets that the National Assembly’s Committee on Justice responded to the issue. “There is no legal basis for such an order to be given to the Supreme Court or its President,” he commented on the committee’s request for an analysis of the fulfilment of the conditions for taking office as a judge, adding that they also did not see any competence that would give the National Authority the basis for such a request. It seems that no one in this country wants to take responsibility for Masleša’s controversial education, which will not solve the problem – instead, the judiciary will be even more compromised, and mistrust will deepen.
At the end of January, an extraordinary session of the Committee on Justice was held, at which it turned out that neither the Judicial Service Act nor the Judicial Council Act provide for the situation we have found ourselves in, and consequently, they also do not provide a solution for it. There was also talk of the qualifications of Supreme Court Judge Branko Masleša, and the President of the Judicial Council, Vladimir Horvat, pointed out that the issue is more complex than it seems at first glance. In his opinion, the law should provide for a procedure that would allow the Judicial Council the right to deal with such cases – including the verification of the authenticity of judges’ qualifications. Horvat did not find such provisions in the legal regulations, so the Judicial Council was not able to rule in this case. “Certainly, the President of the Supreme Court, Damijan Florjančič, could have shown more determination and called on Masleša to submit the documents immediately,” said Supreme Court Judge Jan Zobec. Florjančič has now finally come forward – and said that the Supreme Court is explicitly distancing itself from Zobec’s statements.
Florjančič emphasised that the Supreme Court had no reason to further examine Masleša’s education. He said there was no legal basis for such an order to the Supreme Court or its president and that he also saw no jurisdiction that would give the National Assembly a basis for such a request. “In the future, we will not respond to messages related to such matters. The judge submitted the evidence himself,” explained the President of the Supreme Court, adding that they could not respond to the chain of sowing doubts about the authenticity of the documentation submitted by the judge, which they also have at their disposal, that has been continuing on a daily basis. In Florjančič’s opinion, these are attempts to distort the interpretation of the judicial legislation that was in force at the time. “The media is thinking about issues and not looking at the regulations that were in force at the time,” he said, which is not actually true. All findings of the media outlets that reported on this matter were based on the verification of the regulations that were in force at the time.
“These powers were clearly divided between the ministry responsible for justice, the Judicial Council, and the National Assembly, which passed the most important act – the election of the judge in question to a permanent judicial position. Therefore, even in the case of Judge Masleša, we do not see any substantiated reasons for verifying the fulfilment of the conditions for holding this specific judicial position, because this was the task of these bodies,” explained Florjančič, who thus washed his hands of any responsibility in this matter, and also did not doubt the infallibility of the other state institutions for one second.
MP Pavlin: There are still ambiguities when it comes to the matter of Masleša’s education
Blaž Pavlin (New Slovenia party – NSi), the chairman of the Committee on Justice, responded to Florjančič’s words. He believes that in the case of the Supreme Court Judge Branko Masleša, there are still lots of ambiguities regarding his education in the Slovenian public, which caused damage to the reputation of the judge, as well as the judiciary in public, which was also established by the Judicial Council. “The latter also emphasised the principle of transparency in the functioning of the judiciary and the right of the interested public to all important information on the facts relating to the performance of the judicial office. The decision of the Committee on Justice pursues precisely these goals and is aimed at clarifying ambiguities and increasing the level of public confidence in the judiciary,” the NSi party shared his statement.
Supreme Court Judge Zobec: Masleša has no postulate ability
On the other hand, Supreme Court Judge Zobec believes that Masleša does not have the postulate ability to appear before the Supreme Court. As a client, the doors to the Supreme Court are closed for Masleša, even in his own case. “He, who could not even appeal to the Supreme Court in his own name, is at the same time the Supreme Court Judge who decides on these legal remedies,” Zobec explained, who referred to at least two decisions in which the Supreme Court ruled that the state legal exam obtained in Bosnia and Herzegovina (where Masleša got his) or in the other republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (other than Slovenia) is not valid in Slovenia. Let us remind you that there is no article in Slovenian legislation that would equate state legal exams from our former common state with Slovenian state legal exams. And while Minister of Justice, Marjan Dikaučič, was present at the extraordinary session of the Committee on Justice, he did not comment on the matter.
Sara Bertoncelj
