UN BEL "CASO MITROKHIN" ANCHE IN SLOVENIA: WWW.UDBA.NET
Problemi politici? Necessita' di mettere i bastoni fra le ruote a
qualcuno? Bisogno di dimostrare assoluto zelo filoamericano? Creati
anche tu il tuo "caso Mitrokhin", personalizzato a seconda delle tue
proprie esigenze e/o di quelle del tuo padrone d'oltreoceano!
La ricetta viene applicata oggi con successo anche in Slovenia, dove
il mondo politico e' scosso da "veleni" incrociati dopo la
pubblicazione (sul sito internet http://www.udba.net) di un elenco di
centinaia di migliaia di persone che sarebbero state collaboratrici
del servizio segreto della Jugoslavia socialista (UDBA). L'iniziativa
parte da un console onorario della Slovenia residente in Australia,
che avrebbe ripescato elenchi spariti dalla circolazione da piu' di
dieci anni.
Certo l'elenco dei nomi - che include anche personalita' dell'attuale
establishment secessionista, a partire dal presidente Drnovsek - e'
credibile, tenuto conto che il servizio segreto jugoslavo si fondava
sul contributo diffuso dei cittadini in difesa dello Stato, e non
sulla appartenenza mafiosa-criminale come avviene di regola nei paesi
capitalisti. Una difesa dello Stato *purtroppo* fallita. Quello pero'
che ci sentiamo di imputare a personaggi che hanno fatto una brillante
carriera dopo il 1991 non e' tanto la loro passata appartenenza
all'UDBA, quanto il loro doppiogiochismo, cioe' il fatto di aver
tradito l'UDBA ed i valori della Jugoslavia unitaria per vendersi ad
ideologie infami ovvero al migliore offerente.
Italo Slavo
---
http://balkanreport.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication==
9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle=9366
Slovenia's Sorry Spy Hunt
28 April 2003
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia--A political scandal erupted
in Slovenia on 17 April when a list--whose authenticity
is yet to be confirmed--of over a million Slovenes alleged
to have been employees, collaborators, and victims of
surveillance of the ex-Yugoslav secret police, UDBA, was
published on the Internet.
Among other high-ranking Slovenian officials, President
Janez Drnovsek is listed. The list, published on a
Thailand-based website at www.udba.net, contains
not only the names of alleged employees, collaborators, and
victims, but also their personal data, including
birth dates, places of birth, and criminal records, if any.
UDBA--the Yugoslav version of the dreaded Soviet
KGB--was the long arm of the Yugoslav regime, which is
believed to have been behind certain political
assassinations and the harassment of hundreds of communist
opponents since the 1960s. Unlike in other Central and
Eastern European countries, the Yugoslav wars in the
1990s put dealing with the country's communist
secret police past on the back burner.
UDBA had an extended grid of collaborators in all spheres
of public life. Spies for the state intelligence agency
could be found among school teachers, politicians,
policemen, and journalists, among others. The agency's
primary stated goal was to "protect the state
from internal and foreign enemies."
Following Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia in
1991, the country's first democratic government
considered revealing the spy dossiers to the public,
but questions concerning the documents' authenticity were
raised and the project was dropped. Some of the
documents had also disappeared in 1989 before the democratic
authorities assumed power. After the Liberal
Democrats took over government in 1992, political will
to deal with the secret archives was lacking.
On 17 April, when the list first made its Internet debut,
Slovenian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were
ordered on to block access to the website for fear that the
personal data contained within would be abused.
Joze Bogataj, Slovenia's privacy protection inspector,
ordered the blockage, which was immediately called a
"totalitarian move" by opposition Social Democratic
Party (SDS) leader Janez Jansa.
Bogataj defended his action, saying that he believes
that the lost files of the UDBA published on the website are
'authentic.' He also said that privacy laws are being violated
by the publication of sensitive, classified personal
data. Bogataj said he is aware that completely blocking access
to an Internet site is impossible, but limiting access
could put a cap on the potential damage.
Despite Bogataj's order, however, people are still accessing
the site through anonymous web portals.
The site's publisher, Dusan Lajovic, Slovenia's honorary
consul to Australia and New Zealand, says the "lost files"
are indeed authentic. Lajovic, who was appointed honorary
consul in 1999, said he published the files of the former
secret police so that young generations "would see what
the communists did," local media quoted him as saying.
Lajovic claims he got hold of the UDBA records in 1991
and 1992, but refuses to disclose his source. The
National Archives of Slovenia remains insistent that the
leak came from somewhere outside the institution.
In the meantime, fearing the information will be abused,
police have launched a criminal investigation into the
matter, calling on Interpol for assistance, since the
website is based outside the country. State prosecutors are
now deciding whether any criminal act was committed
with the publication of the lost files.
Not only does the list name President Drnovsek as a UDBA
collaborator or employee, but other high-ranking
officials are also mentioned, including Parliamentary
Speaker Borut Pahor, his deputy Miha Brejc, Foreign
Minister Dimitrij Rupel, Interior Minister Rado Bohinc,
Police Chief Marko Pogorevc, and former Prime
Minister and current New Slovenia NSi party member Alojz
Peterle.
All those officials listed deny allegations that they were
ever UDBA collaborators.
Members of parliament largely agreed that while the public
has a right to learn about its past to some extent, a
more professional way should have been found to grant public
access to such sensitive information.
Parliamentarians criticized the fact that the list was
published in alphabetical order and on the Internet.
On 23 April the parliamentary commission charged with
overseeing security and intelligence issues was briefed
about the UDBA affair, at which time it decided to ask
authorities for an assessment on the possible impact such a
scandal could have for national security. The commission
also asked authorities to find out exactly how the files
came to be leaked.
"We want to know where the files are, what happened
to them, and whether the data was stolen or accessed in
some other way," the commission's head, SDS's Jozef
Jerovsek, said.
According to Jerovsek, the commission was told that
several copies of the data were kept on microfilms until
1986. "It is, of course, as yet impossible to establish
what happened to the microfilms that were scanned and
published on the Internet," he said, adding, "It is our
civilization duty to clear this up."
On 24 April, the Interior Ministry briefed the government
on the affair, and the further debate on the issue is
expected at the next session. Foreign Minister Rupel has
not yet decided if any action will be taken against
Honorary Consul Lajovic, for the time being, and whether or
not he will remain in his position.
MEDIA RIDICULE SPY DOSSIERS
Local media in Slovenia has front-paged the affair
since its outbreak, publishing endless details of the UDBA's
history. Most prominent commentators largely agree
with authorities, saying that the Internet publication of
the spy dossiers is not the best way to deal with the
country's past.
In its 19 April editorial, the daily Delo said that Slovenians
have already been numbed by the almost yearly
publication of some list of names of alleged secret police
collaborators. "The data revealed are of a personal
nature, most people on the list are innocent. (?) Slovenes
have the right to live a normal life," lamented Delo.
"If someone isn't satisfied with the democracy in Slovenia,
he should bring a law suit against the state before the
European Court for Human Rights. If someone fails to
recognize the legitimacy of elections and the will of the
voters in Slovenia, he doesn't acknowledge democracy.
But this is the system we have in Slovenia. Putsches, the
tearing apart of democracy, lustrations, and nights of
long knives--also imported ones--Slovenes don't need
anymore. Never again," wrote Delo.
The daily Dnevnik wrote in its 23 April editorial that
the publication of the "lost files" is nothing more than a
familiar tool of Slovenian political intrigue--the
aim of which, however, is still unclear.
"Instead of resolving the issue back in 1991, the story of
secret dossiers has been recurrent, each time taking a
bigger and more grotesque form. The reason for that can
also be found in the fact that some politicians indeed
were UDBA collaborators - a fact that can be relatively
easy to cover up by publishing new dossiers over and over
again," the editorial said.
by Ales Gaube
We want your feedback.
If you have comments on this, or any other TOL article,
please email us at react@...
Copyright © 2003 Transitions Online. All rights reserved.
Problemi politici? Necessita' di mettere i bastoni fra le ruote a
qualcuno? Bisogno di dimostrare assoluto zelo filoamericano? Creati
anche tu il tuo "caso Mitrokhin", personalizzato a seconda delle tue
proprie esigenze e/o di quelle del tuo padrone d'oltreoceano!
La ricetta viene applicata oggi con successo anche in Slovenia, dove
il mondo politico e' scosso da "veleni" incrociati dopo la
pubblicazione (sul sito internet http://www.udba.net) di un elenco di
centinaia di migliaia di persone che sarebbero state collaboratrici
del servizio segreto della Jugoslavia socialista (UDBA). L'iniziativa
parte da un console onorario della Slovenia residente in Australia,
che avrebbe ripescato elenchi spariti dalla circolazione da piu' di
dieci anni.
Certo l'elenco dei nomi - che include anche personalita' dell'attuale
establishment secessionista, a partire dal presidente Drnovsek - e'
credibile, tenuto conto che il servizio segreto jugoslavo si fondava
sul contributo diffuso dei cittadini in difesa dello Stato, e non
sulla appartenenza mafiosa-criminale come avviene di regola nei paesi
capitalisti. Una difesa dello Stato *purtroppo* fallita. Quello pero'
che ci sentiamo di imputare a personaggi che hanno fatto una brillante
carriera dopo il 1991 non e' tanto la loro passata appartenenza
all'UDBA, quanto il loro doppiogiochismo, cioe' il fatto di aver
tradito l'UDBA ed i valori della Jugoslavia unitaria per vendersi ad
ideologie infami ovvero al migliore offerente.
Italo Slavo
---
http://balkanreport.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication==
9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle=9366
Slovenia's Sorry Spy Hunt
28 April 2003
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia--A political scandal erupted
in Slovenia on 17 April when a list--whose authenticity
is yet to be confirmed--of over a million Slovenes alleged
to have been employees, collaborators, and victims of
surveillance of the ex-Yugoslav secret police, UDBA, was
published on the Internet.
Among other high-ranking Slovenian officials, President
Janez Drnovsek is listed. The list, published on a
Thailand-based website at www.udba.net, contains
not only the names of alleged employees, collaborators, and
victims, but also their personal data, including
birth dates, places of birth, and criminal records, if any.
UDBA--the Yugoslav version of the dreaded Soviet
KGB--was the long arm of the Yugoslav regime, which is
believed to have been behind certain political
assassinations and the harassment of hundreds of communist
opponents since the 1960s. Unlike in other Central and
Eastern European countries, the Yugoslav wars in the
1990s put dealing with the country's communist
secret police past on the back burner.
UDBA had an extended grid of collaborators in all spheres
of public life. Spies for the state intelligence agency
could be found among school teachers, politicians,
policemen, and journalists, among others. The agency's
primary stated goal was to "protect the state
from internal and foreign enemies."
Following Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia in
1991, the country's first democratic government
considered revealing the spy dossiers to the public,
but questions concerning the documents' authenticity were
raised and the project was dropped. Some of the
documents had also disappeared in 1989 before the democratic
authorities assumed power. After the Liberal
Democrats took over government in 1992, political will
to deal with the secret archives was lacking.
On 17 April, when the list first made its Internet debut,
Slovenian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were
ordered on to block access to the website for fear that the
personal data contained within would be abused.
Joze Bogataj, Slovenia's privacy protection inspector,
ordered the blockage, which was immediately called a
"totalitarian move" by opposition Social Democratic
Party (SDS) leader Janez Jansa.
Bogataj defended his action, saying that he believes
that the lost files of the UDBA published on the website are
'authentic.' He also said that privacy laws are being violated
by the publication of sensitive, classified personal
data. Bogataj said he is aware that completely blocking access
to an Internet site is impossible, but limiting access
could put a cap on the potential damage.
Despite Bogataj's order, however, people are still accessing
the site through anonymous web portals.
The site's publisher, Dusan Lajovic, Slovenia's honorary
consul to Australia and New Zealand, says the "lost files"
are indeed authentic. Lajovic, who was appointed honorary
consul in 1999, said he published the files of the former
secret police so that young generations "would see what
the communists did," local media quoted him as saying.
Lajovic claims he got hold of the UDBA records in 1991
and 1992, but refuses to disclose his source. The
National Archives of Slovenia remains insistent that the
leak came from somewhere outside the institution.
In the meantime, fearing the information will be abused,
police have launched a criminal investigation into the
matter, calling on Interpol for assistance, since the
website is based outside the country. State prosecutors are
now deciding whether any criminal act was committed
with the publication of the lost files.
Not only does the list name President Drnovsek as a UDBA
collaborator or employee, but other high-ranking
officials are also mentioned, including Parliamentary
Speaker Borut Pahor, his deputy Miha Brejc, Foreign
Minister Dimitrij Rupel, Interior Minister Rado Bohinc,
Police Chief Marko Pogorevc, and former Prime
Minister and current New Slovenia NSi party member Alojz
Peterle.
All those officials listed deny allegations that they were
ever UDBA collaborators.
Members of parliament largely agreed that while the public
has a right to learn about its past to some extent, a
more professional way should have been found to grant public
access to such sensitive information.
Parliamentarians criticized the fact that the list was
published in alphabetical order and on the Internet.
On 23 April the parliamentary commission charged with
overseeing security and intelligence issues was briefed
about the UDBA affair, at which time it decided to ask
authorities for an assessment on the possible impact such a
scandal could have for national security. The commission
also asked authorities to find out exactly how the files
came to be leaked.
"We want to know where the files are, what happened
to them, and whether the data was stolen or accessed in
some other way," the commission's head, SDS's Jozef
Jerovsek, said.
According to Jerovsek, the commission was told that
several copies of the data were kept on microfilms until
1986. "It is, of course, as yet impossible to establish
what happened to the microfilms that were scanned and
published on the Internet," he said, adding, "It is our
civilization duty to clear this up."
On 24 April, the Interior Ministry briefed the government
on the affair, and the further debate on the issue is
expected at the next session. Foreign Minister Rupel has
not yet decided if any action will be taken against
Honorary Consul Lajovic, for the time being, and whether or
not he will remain in his position.
MEDIA RIDICULE SPY DOSSIERS
Local media in Slovenia has front-paged the affair
since its outbreak, publishing endless details of the UDBA's
history. Most prominent commentators largely agree
with authorities, saying that the Internet publication of
the spy dossiers is not the best way to deal with the
country's past.
In its 19 April editorial, the daily Delo said that Slovenians
have already been numbed by the almost yearly
publication of some list of names of alleged secret police
collaborators. "The data revealed are of a personal
nature, most people on the list are innocent. (?) Slovenes
have the right to live a normal life," lamented Delo.
"If someone isn't satisfied with the democracy in Slovenia,
he should bring a law suit against the state before the
European Court for Human Rights. If someone fails to
recognize the legitimacy of elections and the will of the
voters in Slovenia, he doesn't acknowledge democracy.
But this is the system we have in Slovenia. Putsches, the
tearing apart of democracy, lustrations, and nights of
long knives--also imported ones--Slovenes don't need
anymore. Never again," wrote Delo.
The daily Dnevnik wrote in its 23 April editorial that
the publication of the "lost files" is nothing more than a
familiar tool of Slovenian political intrigue--the
aim of which, however, is still unclear.
"Instead of resolving the issue back in 1991, the story of
secret dossiers has been recurrent, each time taking a
bigger and more grotesque form. The reason for that can
also be found in the fact that some politicians indeed
were UDBA collaborators - a fact that can be relatively
easy to cover up by publishing new dossiers over and over
again," the editorial said.
by Ales Gaube
We want your feedback.
If you have comments on this, or any other TOL article,
please email us at react@...
Copyright © 2003 Transitions Online. All rights reserved.