A round table has been held at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana with the name Tajni predpisi včeraj, danes in jutri (Secret Regulations Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow). The round table has been held at the invitation of the former Slovenian constitutional judge and Minister of Justice Dr Lovro Šturm. The other debaters were Dr Ciril Ribičič, Dr Rajko Pirnat, and Dr Tone Jerovšek. The event had been triggered by the recent revolt of the Slovenian police, which refuses to hand over the regulations on hidden measures and secret operations to the Slovenian Commission for Supervision of the Security and Intelligence Services (KNOVS).
The regulations of the Yugoslav State Security Service, more commonly known as UDBA, had already been in conflict with the socialist constitution. At that time a citizens’ forum for the abolition of the secret legislation had been established at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, demanding the abolition of the secret Yugoslav Official Gazette. The Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS) had also send a special application to the Constitutional Court of Yugoslavia, which repealed the secret legislation. The Constitutional Court of Slovenia has already been confronted with such regulations in the past, though the matter has never been of critical importance, except in the case of the secret treaty with Israel in 1998.
The existence of secret regulations which have not been published is not permitted
‘The Constitutional Court of Slovenia has adopted the view that the existence of secret regulations which have not been published is not permitted. I was surprised, shocked, and sad when I found out that secret regulations were again appearing among Slovenian authorities. It is clear from the documents of the Slovenian Commission for Supervision of the Security and Intelligence Services (KNOVS) that the police observe at least two regulations which have not been published. And during the discussion it turned out that it is possible to record two more regulations of this kind: the instructions covering the area of work with sources and informants and the manual covering the area of work with sources and informants,’ Šturm has said.
Aleksander Rant