Two Ex-Prisoners Stand for Mayor of Tržič

By , 23 Oct 2018, 12:00 PM Politics
Tržič on the map Tržič on the map Screenshot from Google Maps

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STA, 22 October 2018 - A small municipality at the foot of the Karavanke mountain range is in for an interesting election race, as two mayoral candidates are ex-prisoners. Pavel Rupar will try to get back to Town Hall after more than a decade, while Duško Krupljanin is on trial for having attacked a police officer. 

Krupljanin has been on trial for almost a year for having attacked a policeman together with his brother in Tržič in April 2017, and another mayoral candidate Drago Zadnikar will testify in his trial.

Krupljanin has claimed all along the charges are a police plot against him meant to protect the police officer, who also used tear gas and a gun, while he merely defended his nephew and mother.

The Kranj District Court would now like to establish what happened to a video tape of the attack, which is interrupted several times.

The mayoral candidate claims the missing parts are the ones showing the police officer overstepping his powers, and expert Gregor Kovač confirmed that somebody had manipulated the videotape as he testified today.

Krupljanin said he had been encouraged to stand for mayor because of the trial, stressing it was time for change to bring more jobs to Tržič when many locals seek jobs in neighbouring Austria.

Similarly, Rupar, a former Democrat (SDS) MP, would like to restore the municipality to its former glory, saying it had no industry, jobs, or apartments.

Having spent some time in prison for defrauding the municipality, which he led from 1994-2006, he said the prison had changed him completely.

"With the bid, I'd like to prove that a person who hits the bottom can change and rise again," he said, noting Tržič had also hit rock bottom.

Apart from incumbent Mayor Borut Sajovic, Klemen Belhar and Andrej Frelih are also running for the mayoral office.

Earlier this year Sajovic stirred up a controversy, when he gave his women colleagues in Town Hall a carnation, dry fruits and a phallus-shaped chocolate on Women's Day.

An anonymous letter accused him of sexism, but he rejected the "phallus" accusation, saying the chocolate was a special cake.

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