Right of reply : "Mr. Berglund should not fear the legal system if his allegations are supported with evidence"

Following our 2 February press release, the Slovenian Democratic Party sent us this reply on 10 February : "Reporters without borders on February 2nd 2010 condemned the former Slovenian Prime Ministers' lawsuit against the Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund in connection to the bribery allegations he made in his “Truth about Patria” on Finnish TV station YLE on September 1st 2008. On that occasion, Magnus Berglund accused - without providing any evidence - former Prime Minister and president of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) Janez Janša of being bribed by the Finnish state-owned defence contractor Patria in the purchase of armoured personnel carriers for the Slovenian army. Without giving any opportunity to respond to such allegations before the documentary was shown, Mr. Berglund breached the principles of conduct adopted by Finnish journalists, particularly Article 12. It is also not true that Mr. Janša, or the Government Communication Office, did not try to use the right of reply before resorting to legal instruments. Pursuant to the Ethical Guidelines of Finnish Journalists (Articles 21, 22 and 23) on September 5th 2008 a text that denied all the allegations was sent to the Finnish Broadcaster YLE. In this text, a case by case explanation of the context of the documentary was given; it also stated background information about the sources of the documentary. However, the Finnish television did not want to broadcast the reply and even declined to publish it on YLE web page. In order to preserve his good name, former Prime Minister Janša had to follow the legal path in a civil law suit. After more than a year not a single unambiguous piece of evidence was published to prove harsh allegations against Mr. Janša, although Mr. Berglund in September 2008 assured that all would be proven in the court case in the beginning of 2009. Every serious journalist would present the evidence for such serious accusations (without giving away his source), as were made against the then Prime Minister Janez Janša - if he or she had any of course. Today it is more than obvious that Magnus Berglund has no evidence and that his allegations were built on pure insinuations. The credibility of Mr. Berglund’s television YLE was even further compromised just recently, when a YLE reporter was convicted for false accusations against a Member of the Finnish Center Party. One thing is for sure, if Mr. Berglund has evidence to support his allegations, put forward in the “Truth about Patria”, he should not fear a legal process in any democratic country in the world." Katarina Culiberg, Press Officer, Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS)