“If I were to judge the case, I would seriously assess whether the defendants participated in the decision-making as part of the legal powers of forming judicial conclusions, or whether they simply abused their positions for the politically motivated consequence of the plaintiff’s imprisonment. The judge apparently did not address this issue, which Mr Matoz, as a lawyer who is very skilled in law, will surely challenge in the appeal,” former criminal judge Radonjić said about the latest verdict in the Patria case. Meanwhile, Janša will be forced to hold an online auction for the sale of various items in order to settle the enormous court costs.
Namely, the Maribor court awarded enormous court costs to be paid to the defendant judges and the prosecutor in the Patria case, which failed miserably. For a decade and a half of prosecution, Janez Janša will have to pay them more than 44 thousand euros in court costs. “The vampirized judicial caste in the service of the degenerate left believes that it is untouchable,” wrote the President of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), Janša. The courts in Kranj and Maribor awarded the following court costs: 11,522 euros to Hrastar, 11,415 euros to Klajnšček, 7,2011 euros to Štrukelj, 7,2011 euros to Žalik, and 7,2011 euros to Masleša in court costs to the prosecutor and judges who falsely prosecuted and tried in the PATRIA trial.
For all those acquitted and for the hearing, which lasted less than three hours, the court ordered a total of over 44 thousand euros in payments, which must be paid within 15 days. The president of the SDS party added that the Kranj court and judge Tanja Bizjak acquitted all five defendants in record time, without a single evidentiary motion by the injured party, and she has not called a hearing for the remainder of the damages claim trial in more than a year now. The action for wrongful imprisonment is now in its fifth year.
Janša to hold an online auction in order to collect enough money for the settlement of court costs
Janša also recently accused the defendants of illegal work in the Patria trial. “A trial is one thing, and a political showdown is another. This was a political showdown.” It seems that the goal of his imprisonment in 2014 was to prevent the formation of a new Janša government at the time. On the X social network, the champion of the opposition also noted that what is happening is basically a repetition of the story with the conviction, this time in the case of Trenta, and the calling of early elections. Those who wrongly convicted Janša were even rewarded this time. The most striking thing in all of this is the case of the retired judge Branko Masleša, who actually received a “gold medal” for his controversial life’s work. Meanwhile, Janša recently announced on social networks that in order to settle the enormous court costs, he will be forced to participate in an electronic auction, where he will sell certain items. “Thank you,” he wrote on X, “to everyone for the help and ideas on how to collect the money needed to pay the enormous court costs that will benefit the guilty. Next week, I will be selling certain items as part of an electronic auction, and anyone who would like to help can participate. A link to it will be posted on X. You can also help by sharing both this post and the notification about the auction when it is published.”
A comment from former criminal court judge Zvjezdan Radonjić:
“The compensation case for the damage caused belongs to civil law cases, which are scored according to Tariff Number 20, Chapter VIII, in relation to Tariff Number 19. I am not aware of the value of the dispute in this particular case. If it were 1,000,000 euros (+/- 300,000), the costs for responding to the lawsuit of each of the defendants would amount to 9,000 lawyer points, at a point value of 0.6 euros, which amounts to 5,400 euros. To this, at least court fees must be added, which, based on the Court Fees Act, amount to a further 2,175 euros for the same value of the dispute (appendix number 1, according to table number 16). Only these two amount to a total of 7,575 euros. Since I do not know the amount of the claim, I am starting from the value I saw in the press, which should be between 900,000 euros and 1,500,000 euros, depending on the source of the information. Multiplied by the number of defendants, the total amount seems to me to be quite accurately calculated and legal.
However, whether or not the verdict is just, is a completely different question. Even in this part, I do not know the case firsthand – in principle, the verdict should be the result of meritorious decision-making, which is by no means a matter of one hearing or a few hours. If I were to judge the case, I would seriously assess whether the defendants participated in the decision-making as part of the legal powers of forming judicial conclusions, or whether they simply abused their positions for the politically motivated consequence of the plaintiff’s imprisonment. The judge apparently did not address this issue, which Mr Matoz, as a lawyer who is very skilled in law, will surely challenge in the appeal. The third type of question is whether the trial at the second instance court will be consequential, with a predetermined outcome, or the result of careful professional judgment by an independent body. The latter possibility seems to me to be something hypothetical, and the appeal will most likely be rejected, regardless of its merits and quality.”
Domen Mezeg
