Odbor 2015 (Committee 2015) issued a press release, in which it polemised and criticised the response of the Slovenian Association of State Prosecutors. In the message, members of Odbor 2015 pointed out that they are surprised by the response of the association, which informed the Council of Europe about numerous “inadmissible” pressures on state prosecutors in Slovenia, which were allegedly carried out by Prime Minister Janez Janša or his “subordinate” media.
The message begins with a public question for the Minister of Justice, Lilijana Kozlovič, M.Sc., and the Slovenian Association of State Prosecutors. Odbor 2015 wanted to know who is the person who pressured the District State Prosecutor in Maribor, Niko Pušnik, in 2019 and before that? They also point out that in 2019, it was not Janez Janša who held the position of Prime Minister, but Marjan Šarec.
They continue by posing a rhetorical question, wondering if the recipients of the letter think it is normal that the district state prosecutor Niko Pušnik addressed a letter to the parliamentary commission on the 14th of April 2019, in which he wrote: “Or if you want to hear it specifically, in my role of the prosecutor in Kangler cases, pressure has been and continues to be exerted on me with the “UDBA methods.” This is a shame for Slovenia, this is a shame for the Slovenian judiciary, and it is a shame for the prosecutor’s organisation. There comes a time when it all gets to be a bit too much, the masks have to fall off the faces, and things need to be said out loud. I insist on this statement, even if the intelligence-prosecutor connection will send someone to Pohorje, to physically silence me…”
Odbor 2015 called on the Slovenian Association of State Prosecutors to also inform the Council of Europe about the specific case of state prosecutor Niko Pušnik and draw attention to the pressures that are being exerted on him. They also called on the Minister of Justice Lilijana Kozlovič, M.Sc., and urged her to start doing her job consistently and to ensure the rule of law; otherwise, they will be forced to ask her to resign. “FOR human rights!”
Odbor 2015 for Human Rights (Committee 2015 for Human Rights), headed by Željko Vogrin, was initially established because of the successive violations of human rights of the former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler, who found himself in several successive proceedings due to the coordinated actions of the police and judicial authorities.
Aleš Ernecl
