VZCZCXRO4428
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHLJ #0053/01 0420615
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110615Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6431
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LJUBLJANA 000053 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NCE, EUR/OHI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS CASC KCRM SI
SUBJECT: Tour of the Horizon with the Justice Minister 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) In a February 6 meeting with Charge d'Affaires (CDA) 
Maryruth Coleman, Justice Minister Lovro Sturm outlined judicial 
reforms over the last two years including new buildings and 
increased staffing.  He also previewed forthcoming legislative 
proposals that will give high courts new authority to settle cases, 
create new arbitration and mediation channels to resolve disputes, 
and completely rewrite the criminal code.  The CDA raised property 
denationalization issues of concern to U.S. citizens, and Sturm 
responded that his legislative attempts to bring the property 
denationalization process to a close have been stymied by the 
political opposition.  Sturm reported that the Government of 
Slovenia (GOS)-funded study into pre-WWII Jewish-owned property 
would be completed by February 15.  End summary. 
 
Judicial Reform 
--------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Sturm noted considerable progress in the last two years to 
address the dilapidated physical infrastructure of Slovenia's 
judiciary, highlighting that some buildings were over 300 years old 
and that none had any security systems.  He said the Ministry of 
Justice (MOJ) had built brand-new alarm-equipped facilities for the 
courts and prosecutors in Celje and Maribor, acquired a building 
from the Ministry of Education for judicial use in Ljubljana, and 
hoped to break ground in 2008 on a large new courthouse complex in 
Ljubljana.  He also said the MOJ had hired ten percent more judges 
at all levels of the judiciary, which he emphasized was new staff, 
not a re-shuffling of existing personnel. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Sturm stated that in the coming week he intended to 
propose to the Government several significant new draft laws to 
reform the judiciary even further.  The first law would grant 
authority to higher courts to settle cases, instead of just sending 
them back to lower courts for reconsideration.  (Comment: Currently, 
Slovenia's higher courts can only uphold lower-court rulings or 
remand cases back down, but they cannot overturn lower court 
decisions.  Sturm's proposal would address a significant cause of 
current backlogs as cases ping-pong back and forth for years.  End 
Comment.)  Sturm said he had his work cut out for him to convince 
higher-court judges to take full responsibility for their decisions, 
including at the level of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme 
Court.  Sturm noted, however, that he would address the problem of 
judicial buy-in after getting the Government's approval of the draft 
law. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Another law would enact a legal basis for arbitration and 
mediation of legal disputes, and Sturm said the Ministry will 
propose separate regulatory changes that would encourage attorneys 
to use these new methods by guaranteeing them 75 or 80 percent of 
their fee if they use them.  Sturm hoped this would discourage 
attorneys from the lengthy and costly court process, if they would 
not gain much more income from it. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Sturm also reported on a separate project within the 
Ministry to completely revise the Slovene criminal code.  He said 
that in the last year and a half, about 50 percent of the work had 
been completed, with the goal of having the rest completed within 
the next two years.  Using Germany as a model, Sturm said he was 
considering phasing in the new criminal code over a period of five 
years.  The changes would include entirely new roles for public 
prosecutors and investigative judges. 
 
Property Denationalization 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The CDA asked about the fate of the law Sturm introduced 
to Parliament in July 2007 to bring about a speedy end to the 
painful 15-year-old property denationalization process.  Sturm said 
opposition in Parliament was strong, and largely ideological, with 
detractors calling property claimants "exploitators."  Extreme 
opponents had stalled the bill, claiming that the entire property 
denationalization process only served to set a precedent that would 
lead to returning all property to the Catholic Church.  (Comment: at 
one time, the church owned most of the land in the country.  Enc 
comment.)  Nevertheless, Sturm said the law would help bring this 
period of Slovenia's history to a close, once the opposition calmed 
down a bit. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The CDA raised in particular the case of the American 
claiming the kindergarten immediately next door to the Embassy, and 
the case of the American claiming Radenska, the largest source of 
spring water in Slovenia and now owned by Lasko Brewery.  She noted 
that these cases and others have languished for years and that the 
delays are hurting claimants who are growing older while waiting for 
justice.  Sturm claimed that the Government's hands were tied by 
Supreme Court decisions, and that now the claimants and the 
Government could do nothing but await the next court rulings.  The 
 
LJUBLJANA 00000053  002 OF 002 
 
 
CDA pushed back on the Radenska case, saying that it appeared that 
the Ministry of Interior had injected itself into the matter by 
retroactively changing the legal definitions of adults and minors, 
effectively post-facto cancelling the American's key legal argument. 
 Sturm's reply was vague, saying only that the case was in the hands 
of the courts. 
 
Jewish Property Restitution 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The CDA welcomed Sturm's statement that the MOJ-funded 
study of pre-war Jewish properties was expected to be completed 
within one week.  Noting that the separate World Jewish Restitution 
(WJRO)-funded study into the same question was also nearing 
completion, the CDA pressed Sturm to proceed with restitution 
settlement negotiations as soon as feasible, even during the busy EU 
Presidency period. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Sturm's judicial reforms to date have modestly reduced 
court backlogs, and it remains to be seen if he can convince 
Parliament to enact his forthcoming legislative proposals, but any 
effort in this area - especially the hiring of new judges -- 
is a welcome improvement over the previous neglect.  While he 
extolled the virtues of his proposed law to end property 
denationalization, it has now been stuck in Parliament for over six 
months without a single full hearing, and movement on this 
controversial topic seems unlikely before Slovenia's fall 2008 
elections. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Sturm's claim that the Government must wait for court 
rulings to resolve the two property denationalization cases raised 
by the CDA is not consistent with our understanding of local law and 
procedure.  In the kindergarten case, the City of Ljubljana nearly 
signed an out-of-court settlement with the American claimant two 
years ago, but reneged when the high court unexpectedly ruled in the 
City's favor and handed the case back to the lower court for 
reconsideration.  And in the Radenska spring water case, which 
hinges on whether or not the claimant was a Yugoslav citizen in 
1945, the Slovene Ministry of Interior can reverse its previous 
denials of the man's citizenship at any time, opening the way for 
his claim to that valuable property to proceed.  The City of 
Ljubljana and the Ministry of Interior are hiding behind the 
severely backlogged courts as a convenient excuse and delaying 
tactic.  The CDA urged Sturm to do whatever possible to hasten a 
resolution of these and other long-standing cases.  She noted that 
the U.S. Government would be focusing more intently on Slovenia in 
the run-up to the US-EU summit, and that it would be in Slovenia's 
interest to demonstrate real progress on these issues of deep 
concern to U.S. citizens. 
 
COLEMAN