Her Excellency Ms. Alenka Bratušek
Prime Minister of Slovenia
Ljubljana, Slovenia

10 March 2014

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the European News Publishers’ Association (ENPA), the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our serious concern at the prosecution of journalist Anuška Delić.

According to reports, the Slovenian Prosecutors’ office has indicted Ms Delić, a journalist with the newspaper Delo, for allegedly publishing classified secrets. If found guilty of violating article 260 of the Slovenian Criminal Code, which covers the disclosure of classified information, Ms Delić could face up to three years in prison. 

The case arose from Ms Delić’s investigation into neo-Nazi groups in Slovenia. In 2011, she began investigating the Slovenian division of Blood and Honour, an international neo-Nazi network, after receiving information that Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik had sent the group his manifesto in connection with his double terror attack in Norway. Ms Delíc also reported on alleged links between the Slovenian Democratic Party, led by former Prime Minister Janez Janša, and extremist groups, in particular the Slovenian division of Blood and Honour.

We are seriously concerned that Ms Delić’s prosecution may be politically motivated as retaliation for her investigative work into the conduct of a major political party. We are also concerned at reports that the authorities may be seeking to identify her sources.

We respectfully remind you that prosecuting a journalist for carrying out her profession and publishing information that is in the public interest clearly contravenes international standards of freedom of expression, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We respectfully call on you to take all possible steps to immediately end the prosecution of Ms Delíc. We urge you to do everything possible to ensure that journalists are able to carry out their profession without the threat of prosecution and that in future your country fully respects its international obligations to freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Ivar Rusdal
President
European News Publishers’ Association

Tomas Brunegård
President
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

Erik Bjerager
President
World Editors Forum

ENPA is an international non-profit organisation representing publishers of newspapers and news media on all platforms. ENPA represents over 5,200 national, regional and local newspaper titles, published in many EU Member States, plus Norway, Switzerland and Serbia. More information at: www.enpa.be

WAN-IFRA is the global organisation for the world’s newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organisation groups 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.