Andrej Šiško, president of the United Slovenia political party and a leader of Štajerska varda paramilitary group, was arrested at the Pohorje Battalion Commemorative Ceremony this Saturday.
Andrej Šiško pravkar prijet na Osankarici, med spominsko proslavo na Pohorski bataljon pri Treh žebljih.
— BojanPožar (@BojanPozar) January 4, 2020
Viri blizu Šiška: predal se je sam, vedel, da ga bodo prijeli, zato je kot vsako leto prišel sem gor, sicer ga nikoli ne bi našli.
“Aretirali” so ga med salutiranjem. pic.twitter.com/lcWAnu6CCf
Šiško has already been sentenced to eight months in jail for incitement to subversion of the constitutional order (see here), but he and his lawyer believed that time served while in remand would suffice, and that Šiško would not be called back to jail after sentencing. The court decided otherwise, and called the militia leader to complete his sentence in December 2019 by issuing an arrest warrant.
This Saturday Šiško and several members of Štajerska varda showed up at the annual ceremony on Osankarica, with the keynote speaker being the Minister of Education, Science and Sport, Jernej Pikalo. Šiško was allegedly apprehended when he attempted to approach President Borut Pahor.
Predsednik republike se je danes udeležil spominske slovesnosti v počastitev 77. obletnice poslednjega boja Pohorskega bataljona in položil venec pred spominsko obeležje padlim borkam in borcem Pohorskega bataljona. pic.twitter.com/CdWpGudZVE
— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) January 4, 2020
President Pahor responded to the incident with the following comment: “We have the right to express our opinions, but also to respect the dignity of other people as well as of the commemorative events. Especially when these are solemn events.”
The annual ceremony by the Three Nails memorial commemorates the last battle of the Pohorje Battalion, which occurred on January 8, 1943. Only one of the partisans in the battle survived, but he was later executed.
All our stories about Andrej Šiško are here
