By Igor
Kršinar
The former
Slovenian freelance photojournalist Jani Božič was given a suspended sentence for
the period of five months prison for taking photos of the then Prime Minister
Alenka Bratušek while she was reading a message on her mobile phone. After that
he published this snapshot on his webportal Podlupo.net where it could be seen
that Ms Bratušek received a congratulation message from the prominent Slovenian
businessman Peter Kraljič twenty minutes before the official announcement of
her election as PM. After the publishing of this photo Ms Bratušek visited the police
and criminally charged Božič for breaching the confidentiality of the media.
The case was taken over by state prosecution and after nine months of trial he
was found guilty and sentenced to five months of prison conditionally for the
period of two years. His attorney Radovan Cerjak announced an appeal on the
second level court.
Despite the
fact that accused photojournalist and his attorney both warned the first level
court that such photos are published in another European media without legal
consequences – for example in Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Croatia - the
judge didn’t follow the defence. The judge said that she didn’t know above
mentioned European cases but she was obliged to judge in line with Slovenian
legislation which doesn’t allow such deeds. The Slovenian public, especially
journalists, were appalled because of this sentence. The Association of the
journalists and commentators called for changes to the Slovenian Penal Code in
such directions that journalists wouldn’t be punished for their work any more. This
requirement has been supported also by the newly established Initiative for the
Freedom of Speech which also warned from an increasing restriction of the
freedom of speech and certain convictions of some journalists in Slovenia in recent
years.
Jani Božič
lives with his family in London where he now works as a photographer. He was
forced to leave his homeland due to the pressure he was exposed to because of
his work. If his conviction will be confirmed also by the Higher Court this
would mean that Slovenian politicians have more personal rights than their
colleagues in other European countries, and that Slovenian journalists have
less media freedom than their colleagues in the U. K., Italy, Germany and Croatia.
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