Zvone Čadež believes that the dismissal decision will be overturned in the Labour and Social Court, and he also plans to file a lawsuit to stay the decision, because “the world has never seen a political purge be implemented in such a crude way.”
The Council of the University Rehabilitation Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (URI) Soča voted at its recent meeting to dismiss the Director, Zvone Čadež, from the post. The reasons for his dismissal will be explained once the government gives its consent to the council’s decision, the council’s chairman, Tomaž Pliberšek, told the Slovenian Press Agency. This is expected to happen next week.
“Unfortunately, freedom [referring to the Freedom Movement – Gibanje Svoboda coalition] is in power, and we have to be careful about what we say,” were the opening words of the now-dismissed Director, Dr Zvone Čadež, who added that the lawyer who represented him by proxy was not even allowed to speak at the board meeting. “Neither procedurally nor substantively.” As the lawyer told him, he had never experienced anything like this in his 25-year career as a lawyer, which speaks volumes about the dismissal procedure itself.
Accusations without evidence
But what is even more bizarre is the fact that the members of the council went to another location to vote. Čadež explained that their accusations were completely unrealistic. “They have nothing to do with reality!” They accused him of mobbing, even though no one had reported him. He was even accused of sexual misconduct. “This is beyond reason,” said Čadež. He was also accused of not respecting the law, without an additional explanation of which law he had supposedly broken.
Čadež explained to Nova24TV that he had responded to everything in a 25-page explanation letter to the councillors, but they had not taken anything into account. Neither he nor his lawyer were allowed to make any defence. Čadež is convinced that the dismissal decision will be overturned in the Labour and Social Court, and that he and his lawyer will file a lawsuit to have the decision suspended, because “the world has never seen a political purge be implemented in such a crude way.” He even went so far as to say that this government should be thrown out as soon as possible and replaced by a new, more capable one.
According to Čadež, the sole reason for his dismissal is that he is a member of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), something of which he is extremely proud, but which is often punished by the current authorities.
C. Š.
