Criminal prosecution of journalists in Slovenia show need for legal reform, says OSCE Representative
VIENNA, 7 May 2015 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović once again called on the Slovenian authorities to reform the Criminal Code to protect journalists reporting on classified information in the public interest.
Bojan Pozar, editor of the pozareport.si online news portal, received a letter from the Prosecutor’s office, summoning him for questioning on Tuesday, to identify whether he breached Article 260 of the Criminal Code on disclosure of classified information, for publishing an article alleging that public figures and politicians were wiretapped by the intelligence agency SOVA ahead of the 2011 parliamentary elections.
“This is the latest case when journalists fear prosecution for reporting on issues of public interest,” Mijatović said. “The cases like this should not become a trend and journalists should be free to perform their job.”
In recent months Mijatović has raised a number of cases where journalists were interrogated or indicted on criminal charges including Primož Cirman, Tomaž Modić, Peter Lovšin and Meta Roglič of the newspaper Dnevnik and Anuska Delić, an investigative journalist with the newspaper Delo. On 17 April, Mijatović welcomed the dropping of all charges against Delić and called for legal reforms in order to avoid prosecution of journalists.
Mijatović received a letter from Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec last month indicating the authorities’ intention to introduce a partial exclusion of criminal liability for disclosure of classified information if the public interest in disclosure outweighs maintaining its secrecy.
The Representative’s prior statements on the issue are at //www.osce.org/fom/151736 and //www.osce.org/fom/143006 and the Report to the Permanent Council of 27 November 2014, page 25: //www.osce.org/fom/127656?download=true
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. She provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom.