Former premier improbably wins Ljubljana defamation case against Finnish journalist

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns a 13 December decision by a Ljubljana court ordering Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund and the Finnish state-owned TV station YLE to pay former Slovenian prime minister Janez Janša 15,000 euros in damages for accusing him in a 2008 programme of taking kickbacks from Finnish defence contractor Patria. The court also ordered them to make public retractions on Slovenian and Finnish state television, and ordered Bojan Potocnik, a former Slovenian police inspector who supported the allegations in the programme, to pay 6,500 euros in damages. Janša brought his defamation suit against Berglund and YLE for claiming in the “Truth about Patria” programme broadcast on 1 September 2008 that Patria paid 20 million euros in illegal commissions to win a Slovenian government contract worth 275 million euros for the purchase of armoured vehicles. The alleged recipients of the bribes included Janša, who was prime minister at the time, other senior government officials, high-ranking military officers and several politicians. Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the questionable procedure adopted by the judge, which is unacceptable in a European judicial system. Berglund and YLE wanted to defend themselves in court but Judge Matej Papler refused to let them testify and just let Janša present his viewpoint. The judge concluded that the programme did not present enough evidence to support its claims. “Accusing Berglund and YLE of not having enough evidence and then preventing them from producing additional evidence requires an exceptional degree of bad faith,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We also point out to Judge Papler that he probably lacks the necessary judicial authority to force a Finnish public TV station to broadcast a retraction. “We would have hoped for a bit more coherence from the Slovenian judicial system in this case, especially as the justice minister confirmed at the start of this month that 84 pages of evidence in its investigation into the Patria allegations have mysteriously disappeared and must be regarded as having been lost forever. The judicial system should refrain from demanding the very evidence in this case that it has a curious tendency to misplace. “We call on Ljubljana courts to reexamine this case without delay as defence rights were violated. If they decide not to dismiss the case against Berglund outright, they must organize a new public hearing so that all parties to the case can give their evidence and a fair decision can be reached.” Janša is meanwhile one of around 30 people in three countries who have been investigated by the police in Finland, Austria and Slovenia on suspicion of corruption and espionage. Interpol and Eurojust coordinated the three-year investigation, which is about to conclude with a trial starting in Austria in January and a trial due to get under way in Finland within the next few months.