Ljubljana related

20 Oct 2020, 12:47 PM

STA, 19 October 2020- Ljubljana's city councillors adopted on Monday a statement condemning any activities or gatherings of paramilitary or nationalist groups in the capital. The opposition Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) protested, unsuccessfully proposing that the item be removed from the City Council's agenda.

The statement, proposed by the councillors of the Left, caused a clash of opinions, with SDS and NSi councillors arguing the Left was out to provoke a harsh politics-fuelled debate.

While they argued that the statement was unnecessary because the field was already regulated in detail by the protection of public order act, the head of the Left's group of councillors Milan Jakopovič said this act did not prevent activities by paramilitary and nationalist groups on private property and gatherings, which is why hospitality needed to be denied to them in no uncertain terms.

The Left's argument that a symbolic gesture is necessary was echoed by Maša Kociper of the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), who spoke of a "group of individuals who think they can execute powers that are reserved for the army and police in any normal and democratic country".

Martina Vuk of the SocDems agreed, arguing the City Council is the body that can say on behalf of the city that such groups have no place in Ljubljana.

Zvone Čadež of the SDS protested, saying that an honest list of this sort would also need to include members of antifa groups "who sliced car tires around Ljubljana on the eve of Statehood Day".

"Add to the list the people yelling that PM Janez Janša needs to be killed, which was documented, add the artists exposing their asses in the middle of Prešeren Square, add the people pulling cameras from TV cameramen's hands, add people with a poor command of Slovenian who are yelling at police officers that they should return to their villages," Čadež said.

Mayor Zoran Janković tried to calm down the debate and urged the councillors to adopt the statement together with the message that everybody in Ljubljana lives together and respects differences.

He welcomed the recent legislative changes adopted by parliament in a bid to limit the activities of self-styled militias. "But the fact that they went to the presidential palace and that they tried to get into parliament is an offence against both institutions," Janković added.

While the two NSi councillors decided for obstruction, the statement was adopted without official debate in a 31:0 vote.

08 Dec 2019, 12:49 PM

STA, 5 December 2019 - The government has adopted a national strategy on the prevention of terrorism and violent extremism which provides a basis for a systemic approach to reducing Slovenia's vulnerability to terrorism and violent extremism. The document is aligned with the recently passed resolution on national security.

The strategy aims to prevent radicalisation which leads to terrorism and violent extremism, and to protect residents against acts of terrorism and violent extremism, the Government Communication Office said after the government session on Thursday.

The document, which is largely preventive in nature, also aims to improve preparedness to take measures in the wake of an act of terror and to prosecute terrorists.

Its goals will now be specified in an action plan, the drafting of which will be coordinated by an inter-departmental anti-terrorism task force.

The same task force drafted the strategy, after it was tasked to do so by the National Security Council already in its previous term.

Activities and exchange of information in the field of terrorism and violent extremism prevention are coordinated by the country's national coordinator for the prevention of terrorism and violent extremism and the national coordinator for the prevention of radicalisation.

Intelligence agency SOVA director Rajko Kozmelj has just recently been appointed the national coordinator for the prevention of terrorism and violent extremism.

The Government Communication Office explained that Slovenia was one of a few EU members without a basic systemic document setting down a coordinated fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

The National Security Council, a government advisory body, also called on the government last month to draft legislation that would allow law enforcement to prosecute paramilitary militias which have recently sprung up and started to patrol the border to keep illegal migrants out.

The appeal came in the aftermath of increased activity by militias including the Štajerska Guard (Štajerska vlada), whose leader Andrej Šiško was sentenced to eight months in prison earlier this year for attempting to subvert the constitutional order.

Štajerska vlada stajerska guard militia facebook logo.png

The logo of Štajerska vlada, from the group's Facebook page

Militia leader requests deferral of jail sentence

STA, 6 December 2019 - Andrej Šiško, the self-styled leader of a militia that calls itself the Štajerska Guard (Štajerska vlada), has requested a deferral of a prison sentence that he received for incitement to subversion of the constitutional order.

Šiško told the STA he was to report to prison on Friday but submitted a formal request for deferral on Wednesday.

While sentenced to eight months in prison in March, Šiško had spent almost seven months in detention before and during his trial, time which counts towards his overall sentence.

Since the trial, Šiško and his militia have stepped up their activities, most notably by patrolling the border with Croatia in fatigues and faux weapons.

While their activities do not constitute criminal conduct under existing law, the government has already proposed legislative changes that would make it a crime for individuals or groups to imitate police border patrol activities.

Activities that impede the police in conducting border surveillance will also be banned.

27 Nov 2019, 09:13 AM

STA, 26 November 2019 - The government adopted legislative amendments on Tuesday designed to crack-down on the activity of self-styled village guards and militias patrolling the border with the intention to stop illegal migrants.

The government proposes for parliament to pass amendments to the protection of public order act and to the state border control act as a matter of urgency.

The government says securing the border is in the sole jurisdiction of the police, while the so-called guards are trying to interfere in police powers and duties, obstruct police work and are upsetting the public.

The proposed amendments would ban any conduct by an individual or group conducted with the intention of controlling the border in the same or similar way as conducted by police in controlling the border.

Also banned are activities that impede the police in conducting border surveillance.

Violations of the ban carry a fine of at least EUR 1,000 for an individual or at least EUR 1,500 when the act is committed by an individual as part of a group.

The government also proposes banning the carrying, display or use of decorative weapons, imitation weapons, signalling weapons or other objects that look like weapons, in a way as to make it look as if police or army members perform their duties.

The ban would not apply when the objects are used as props by performers at events organised in accordance with the public assembly act.

A breach of this latter ban carries a fine of between 500 and 1,000 euro when committed by an individual or between 1,000 and 2,000 when the individual commits the act as a member of a group.

The government also proposes introducing a new offence for the use of camouflage clothing, uniforms or clothing that looks like police or army uniform, when the person wearing such a piece of clothing appears as if they are performing the duties of police or army personnel.

The use of such clothing as props by performers is again exempt from the ban, which carries fines of between 500 and 1,000 euro when committed by an individual or between 1,000 and 2,000 euro when committed as a member of a group.

The amendments come in the aftermath of increased activity by militias including the Štajerska Guard, whose leader Andrej Šiško was sentenced to eight months in prison earlier this year on the charge that he attempted to subvert the constitutional order.

Presenting the amendments to reporters, Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar declared "zero tolerance of any initiative by individuals or groups to assume the duties in the jurisdiction of the state".

He expects that the amendments will meet with approval, saying that shortcomings in the valid law caused concern among the public and hindered police work.

Police have been reporting on their findings on militia activity to prosecutors but these have not established any crime in any of the cases. The government is now giving the police the tool to punish the perpetrators, he said.

Poklukar announced that the Interior Ministry would also draw up amendments to legislation dealing with associations, and the Justice Ministry proposed amendments to the penal code provisions on impersonating a police or army force member and on taking the law in your hands.

The United Slovenia movement, which is headed by the leader of the Štajerska Guard Šiško, responded to the changes by saying Slovenia was seeing "fascism and unconstitutional actions by an important segment of the very top echelons of the state and the state apparatus"

It argued MPs should do all in their power to "prevent such unacceptable conduct and to restore the rule of law and constitutional order of the Republic of Slovenia".

25 Nov 2019, 12:00 PM

STA, 24 November 2019 - Slovenian police appear to have stepped up activities against a self-styled militia that says it wants to protect the border from migrants. In an encounter Saturday near Krško, a group of officers confiscated seven pieces of weapons from 41 members of a militia known as the Štajerska Guard.

The weapons will be sent for analysis and the individual will be prosecuted if they are found to have broken the law. The encounter was also reported to the prosecution but the prosecutor did not detect elements of criminal activity, said the head of the border department at the Novo Mesto police, Anton Štubljar.

The encounter comes days after the government said it was in the process of changing legislation to be able to tackle the activities of groups such as the Štajerska Guard, a paramilitary formation led by Andrej Šiško, who has already served prison time for trying to subvert the constitutional order.

Andrej Šiško – Football Fan, Attempted Murderer, Presidential Candidate and Paramilitary Commander

In recent weeks the group has spent weekends at camps along the border, patrolling the border area in fatigues and carrying weapons that its members says are replicas.

While their activities have raised concern about the possibility of violent altercations with migrants, they cannot be prosecuted under existing law since nothing they do is technically illegal.

The legislative changes under consideration, strongly opposed by politicians on the right who see the militia as a harmless attempt by citizens to protect themselves, would make it illegal for such groups to present themselves as a type of a military structure trying to imitate the actions of the police or the army.

Štubljar said police support changes that would make it possible to "effectively detect and prevent such deviations, which constitute a security threat".

All our stories on militias in Slovenia are here

14 Nov 2019, 14:18 PM

STA, 13 November 2019 - The Slovenian National Security Council has called on the government to table legislation that would allow law enforcement to prosecute paramilitary militias, which have recently sprung up and started to patrol the border to keep illegal migrants out.

Changes to the penal code and misdemeanour regulations are needed to "appropriately sanction association and activities by various organisations that encroach on the powers of state authorities", the National Security Council said after Wednesday's session.

The appeal comes in the aftermath of increased activity by militias including the Štajerska Guard, whose leader Andrej Šiško was sentenced to eight months in prison earlier this year for attempting to subvert the constitutional order.

Šiško is no longer in prison, having served out most of his sentence in pre-trial detention, and in recent months his group has stepped up activities.

When he was arrested in September last year, his Štajerska Guard had only gathered for training in the woods near Maribor; in recent weeks they have been patrolling the border with Croatia in fatigues and wearing airsoft rifles, posing as defenders of the southern border.

This is the same area, along the river Kolpa, where a local family has taken it upon themselves to "protect the border" by patrolling the riverside.

Concern about their activities has been rising, with the police, which have been keeping an eye on militia activities, for example writing on Tumblr today that they were opposed to such militias, whose activities "constitute a certain degree of security risk".

The Interior Ministry said it had "zero tolerance" to such actions, noting that "the law gives the state monopoly over the use of force". It said the police would immediately act on suspicion of criminal activity and misdemeanour.

The statements by police and the Interior Ministry suggest the authorities think they cannot crack down on such conduct under existing law, hence the appeal for tougher regulation.

The fact is that the court did not find Šiško guilty of any unlawful conduct of his militia, he was convicted for trying to subvert the constitutional order by calling for a coup against the government.

All our stories on militias in Slovenia are here

29 Mar 2019, 14:20 PM

Our earlier stories on this case can be found here

STA, 29 March 2019 - Andrej Šiško, the self-styled leader of a militia called the Štajerska Guard, has been sentenced to eight months in prison for trying to subvert the constitutional order. Matej Lesjak, charged with aiding Šiško, received a three-month suspended sentence. The ruling is not final yet.

The sentence was handed down by the Maribor District Court on Friday after a trial that lasted only five weeks on the first ever charges brought for the crime of inciting to a violent subversion of the constitutional order.

Judge Vanja Verdel Kokol ordered that the 49-year-old Šiško be released from custody today after more than six months in detention. The time he has spent in detention will count as part of the sentence.

According to the judge, Šiško attempted to subvert the constitutional order with various moves, including by threatening the then Prime Minister Miro Cerar in January 2017 and founding the Štajerska Land and then a para-military unit, the Štajerska Guard, in September 2018.

Verdel Kokol said Šiško had gone too far and that history thought us that such actions must not be underestimated.

She noted that the defendants started claiming the whole thing was but a provocation only after criminal procedure had been filed against them.

"A democratic society should not be taken for granted and it can be jeopardised. This is why clear boundaries must be set to prevent undermining its foundations."

Šiško, the leader of the non-parliamentary United Slovenia Movement, and Lesjak, a former member of the opposition Democratic Party's (SDS) youth wing were apprehended in September after a video was posted on social media of a para-military group parading with airsoft rifles in the woods in north-east Slovenia.

While Šiško is considered to have organised the exercise, Lesjak is believed to have filmed it and posted the video on the internet.

Both claimed the campaign was but a provocation designed to bring to the public's attention the problematic workings of Slovenia's politics, mass media and security system.

Bot the judge dismissed this, wondering why Šiško had gathered information about the militia members' blood type if it was all a joke.

The state has a monopoly over national security and there is no space for para-military groups. "Incitement to a violent subversion of the constitutional order may encroach on the fundamental rights of Slovenian citizens," she said.

According to the judge, the intention of the exercise was to spread ideas propagated by Šiško in order to attract more followers angry with the current government.

It is therefore unimportant whether they carried real weapons; even display of weapons similar to real weapons achieved its purpose, the judge said.

Šiško, reacting in his signature fashion, said the ruling confirmed that Štajerska had been established as an independent land. He now expects a meeting with the prime minister and home minister to set down the details of his militia's cooperation with the police and the army.

He also rejected the notion that he incited to violence, "but what others understand is another thing altogether. I speak Slovenian, but obviously the prosecutor and the judge have trouble understanding."

The prosecutor had proposed that Šiško spent 16 months in prison - the maximum sentence would be five years - but was nevertheless satisfied with the sentence. The defence said the ruling was expected.

Šiško's lawyer, Lucija Šikovec Ušaj, framed the trial in free speech terms, arguing that Slovenia will have to come clear once and for all about whether people have the right to free speech.

"If they say we don't, we'll have to stick to it. Such dictatorships do not last long, though. It is true, however, that Europe is gravitating towards limiting free speech and the judge has joined this bandwagon," she said.

The five-week trial saw a fair share of unusual scenes, from Šiško spending days delivering his defence to his supporters at one point appearing in front of the Maribor Courthouse with a white stretch limo to salute their leader.

Šiško, the leader of the far-right party United Slovenia, has long been active politically and he even ran for Maribor mayor from detention in the November 2018 local elections, securing 1.43% of the vote.

He has also announced his intention to stand in the May elections to the European Parliament, while his lawyer Šikovec Ušaj is among the founding supporters of a new far-right party, the Homeland League, which plans to field her in the EU election.

15 Feb 2019, 13:00 PM

STA, 14 February 2019 - Andrej Šiško, the self-styled leader of a paramilitary unit whose footage stirred Slovenia in mid-2018, pleaded not guilty to inciting to violent subversion of the constitutional order at a pre-trial arraignment held in Maribor on Thursday.

Šiško, who was apprehended last September after a video surfaced of a para-military group parading in the woods of north-eastern Slovenia, argued he was the only one in Slovenia who had actively called for the preservation of the constitution.

The 49-year-old former ultras leader announced he would present the reasons for his provocation during the trial, to start on 6 March.

All our articles on this story can be found here

Šiško, who had also called for the formation of other militias around the country and uttered a threat against then Prime Minister Miro Cerar in January 2017, is to be tried together with the man allegedly responsible for the footage, Matej Lesjak. The latter also pleaded not guilty.

The defendants' lawyers requested today that President Borut Pahor, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, Cerar as well opposition leader Janez Janša appear for testimony during the trial.

Šiško's lawyer Lucija Ušaj argued Pahor, as commander in chief, could explain if Slovenia's Armed Forces could really be defeated by a "sports club whose members use airsoft guns", Cerar could say how threatened he really felt, while Janša could speak about his past proposals to form a national guard.

As to Šarec, the defence claim that his public calls constituted direct interference in the criminal prosecution of the defendants. Only after Šarec's calls were the conterminous actions labelled as a crime, one for which no case law exists in Slovenia.

This was rejected in the strongest terms by prosecutor Tilen Ivič, who hopes "nobody really believes that interfering" in the judicial branch of power is possible.

Šiško, the head of the nationalist non-parliamentary party United Slovenia, has been in custody since September because all his appeals for release failed.

He was apprehended on 6 September, three days after a video emerged of him lining up several dozen men, some allegedly armed, wearing balaclavas and conducting what appeared to be basic military training.

08 Dec 2018, 08:00 AM

STA, 7 December 2018 - The Maribor Prosecution Office has filed an indictment against Andrej Šiško, the leader of a para-military unit that call themselves the Štajerska Guard, who has been in custody since early September.

Darko Simonič, the head of the prosecution office, said the indictment, alleging instigation to the subversion of the constitutional order, was filed with the Maribor District Court on Thursday.

The prosecution also proposed for Šiško to be remanded in custody. The last monthly extension of his detention would expire on 12 December.

Once an indictment is filed, the court's pre-trial panel of judges may extend detention for up to two years.

"Considering that the court has always supported us on custody, except for the first investigating judge, there's probably no dilemma about custody. Nothing that would warrant a different conduct has happened in the meantime," Simonič said.

An armed militia was filmed in September

Šiško was apprehended on 6 September, three days after a video emerged of him lining up several dozen men, some armed, wearing balaclavas and conducting what appeared to be basic military training.

After extending his 48-hour detention twice, the investigating judge released him, but he was brought back into custody on 12 September after a court panel reverted the judge's decision.

The Supreme Court rejected his appeal against detention, upholding the lower courts' reasoning that there were reasonable grounds to believe the suspect formed a para-military unit and called for the formation of other militias across Slovenia that would, when the time was right, bring down the highest authorities of the state.

Šiško and his counsel Viktor Osim argued that Šiško's conduct did not amount to instigation to the subversion of constitutional order.

A colourful past, including jail time for attempted murder

Šiško, a former ultras leader who has served prison for attempted murder, argued the line-up was a provocation meant to disclose how Slovenian media work. However, he had called for the establishment of other such militias around the country.

The Supreme Court noted his past conduct, from the utterance of a threat against then Prime Minister Miro Cerar in January 2017 to the formation of the para-military unit.

Osim said today he was not surprised by the timing of the indictment, arguing that it would help the prosecution to avoid the decision on custody being taken by the Supreme Court.

He plans to appeal against the indictment at any case, although he had not yet been formally notified of it being filed.

Information available to him indicates that the indictment also concerns co-defendant Matej Lesjak, a former member of the youth wing of the Democratic Party (SDS) who allegedly filmed the paramilitary formation's training, but his lawyer Mihael Jenčič could not confirm the information for the STA because he had not yet received the indictment.

Osim had proposed taking witness statements from PM Marjan Šarec, his predecessor in office Miro Cerar and President Borut Pahor so they will be able to tell whether they felt threatened by Šiško.

Osim also proposes hearing Janez Janša, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party (SDS), who he said publicly proposed forming a national guard or a para-military formation back in 2015.

Šiško is the head of the non-parliamentary party United Slovenia. He stood in the 2017 presidential election, winning 2.21% of the vote. He also ran for Maribor mayor from detention last month, securing 1.43% of the vote.

All our stories on Andrej Šiško can be found here

05 Nov 2018, 11:22 AM

STA, 3 November 2018 - Andrej Šiško, the leader of a self-proclaimed local para-military formation, will remain in custody after the Supreme Court upheld the argument of lower courts that he represents a danger to the constitutional order.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect formed a para-military unit and called for the formation of other militias across Slovenia that would, when the time is right, bring down the highest authorities of the state," the Supreme Court.

The decision, announced on Friday, comes in response to an appeal by the defence, which argued that Šiško's conduct did not amount to instigation to the subversion of the constitutional order, the crime Šiško is suspected of.

Save for a brief intermission, Šiško has been in detention since early September, a week after video surfaced of him lining up several dozen men, some armed, wearing balaclavas and conducting what appeared to be basic military training.

Šiško, a former ultras who served prison for attempted murder, has argued that this was a provocation meant to disclose how Slovenian media work, but at the same time he called for the establishment of other such militias around the country.

Related: Andrej Šiško – Football Fan, Attempted Murderer, Presidential Candidate and Paramilitary Commander

The Supreme Court said the suspect's conduct, from the utterance of a threat against then Prime Minister Miro Cerar in January 2017 to the formation of the para-military unit, was sufficient at this point in proceedings to warrant his detention.

In making the decision, the court went against the argument of the prosecution, which held that whether Šiško should be remanded in detention should be re-examined by lower courts.

The prosecution's 27 September opinion caused uproar. It was penned by Supreme State Prosecutor Barbara Brezigar, who has for years been close to the opposition Democrats (SDS) and once ran for president with their support; one of Šiško's co-defendants was a member of the SDS's youth wing.

While Šiško is in detention, the investigation continues. Darko Simonič, the head of the Maribor branch of the State Prosecution, told the STA earlier this week that additional witnesses would be interviewed next week.

Šiško has been active in politics for years and ran in last year's presidential election. This year he is one of 18 candidates for mayor of Maribor.

Related: Football Fans, Skinheads, Neo-Nazis & Militias, a Brief Look at Far-Right Groups in Slovenia

17 Oct 2018, 13:00 PM

An article on the website European Eye on Radicalization, written by Matteo Pugliese, does a good job of putting in context the recent sight of Andrej Šiško and his armed militia, as reported here last month, whose Štarjerska Guard identified themselves with the idea of a “Greater Slovenia”, as seen in the 19th century map by Peter Kozler shown below.

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