By Igor
Kršinar
Waiting for
results of voting of the new PM designate Alenka Bratušek was sitting in the
Slovenian Parliament when she got the following message on her mobile phone: “Dear
Ms. Bratušek, heartfelt congratulations and a lot of success for your
challenging role. Receive my greetings from Moscow. Peter Kraljič.” Right this
moment the freelance photographer Jani Božič, who, among other colleagues,
covered the session of the Slovenian National Assembly from a balcony, took a photo
of the future Prime Minister of Slovenia. In a detailed review of this snapshot he
figured out that the prominent Slovenian businessman sent a congratulation
message 20 minutes before the official announcement of the results. Jani Božič
decided to publish this snapshot on his web portal Podlupo.net with the above
mentioned footnote. That day, on 27 February 2013, Alenka Bratušek was elected
for the new Slovenian Prime Minister in a confidential vote in which her
predecessor Janez Janša was resolved from this post.
For the photographer
dire straits started. After he had published a photo of Bratušek’s message on
his web portal he lost the accreditation card for the National Assembly. Its
office led by Secretary General Mojca Prelesnik also informed the newly elected
Prime Minister about the violation of her personal rights by the photographer
Jani Božič. Alenka Bratušek visited a police station and criminally charged him
for breaching the confidentiality of media. The case was taken over by the
state prosecution and after several months an indictment against Božič was
filed. According to the Slovenian Penal Code the photographer could be punished
by fine or by imprisonment up to one year. The trial started in April 2014 at
the Ljubljana District Court. Three hearings have been held at which three
different prosecutors led an indictment against the photographer. The first two
hearings passed without the accused and the “victim”. The Prime Minister
Bratušek was absent due to her political obligations while Jani Božič moved out
from Slovenia. Since he experienced many threats because of his work he
couldn’t do his job in Slovenia, so he decided to move with his family to
London where he has been continuing his work as a photographer.
In
December, just two days before Christmas, both of them attended the third
hearing at the court. Jani Božič (his surname in Slovenian language means
Christmas) with his family visited the homeland and defended himself from the indictment.
Alenka Bratušek, now the former PM since the new government was taken over by
Miro Cerar, the winner of snap elections, still insisted on criminal
prosecution of Jani Božič. She stated that he breached her privacy and that she
hadn’t allowed anybody to read her messages. On the contrary, Božič explained to
the court that he just did his work as well as his colleagues anywhere in
Europe. He added that such snapshots as he had taken are published in tones
everywhere in the United Kingdom, in Germany, in Italy as well as in Slovenia.
As the evidence his attorney Radovan Cerjak filed articles from British, Italian,
German and Croatian media where similar photos of politicians’ messages were
published.
In the UK,
the daily newspaper The Telegraph published in April 2009 a snapshot of confidential
documents revealed by the Communities Secretary Hazel Blears as she walked
along Downing Street. In Italy, the daily newspaper La Repubblica published in
November 2011 many snapshots of a letter written by then PM Silvio Berlusconi
to two of his female MPs inviting them for coffee during the session of the
Parliament. The same newspaper also published many photos of a letter written
by then MP Enrico Letta (the later Italian PM) offering himself to become a
minister in then PM Designate Mario Monti’s government. Different Croatian web portals
published in November 2013 a pornographic message on the mobile phone written
by Romana Mihaljević, the head of one of the departments of the council of the
Osijek-Baranja Region, during the session of the regional Assembly. Her porn message
was published also in Serbian, Bosnian as well as in Slovenian web media. The
German daily tabloid Bild published in September 2014 a snapshot of the mobile
phone of MP Christoph Bergner watching a Playboy-Bunny during the session of
the Bundestag. These cases confirm that media freedom in other EU countries is
wider than in Slovenia despite common European jurisdiction. In case that the
photographer Jani Božič is found guilty of the above mentioned accusations at all
level of the Slovenian rule of law he could appeal to the European Court of
Human Rights. This would be a real challenge for all European media.
Bild: Playboy Gucker im Bundestag
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