Several European journalists are fought by legal means these months: Recently a German MEP used lawyers against several journalists, writes German journalism magazine Message.
Now Slovenia brings a criminal case against an award-winning Finnish colleague.
Journalist Magnus Berglund of Finnish broadcaster YLE faces up to six months in prison in Slovenia, if found guilty in a case about ‘criminal defamation’ brought by Slovenia, according to several sources, most recently the International Press Institute.
“The charges are linked to an aired MOT story about a suspected bribery case involving defence materiel manufacturer Patria and top Slovenian officials,” writes broadcaster YLE in a press release.
The documentary, which was broadcast last autumn in YLE programme MOT, claimed that “defence material manufacturer Patria bribed Slovenian officials, including Prime Minister Janez Jansa, to the tune of 21 million euro in order to secure orders worth millions of euro. Jansa has denied any wrongdoing in the deal,” according to the YLE press release in English language. The English transcript of the documentary is published on the YLE site.
Berglund as well as MOT’s producer Matti Virtanen continue to stand by the work done on the report. Finnish police have followed leads in the case to Slovenia as well as Austria.
Berglund will avoid to travel to Slovenia anytime soon, he says. “They would probably arrest me as soon as I set foot in the country. Fortunately, Finland doesn’t plan to send me there for questioning.”
The International Press Institute explains, that according to Slovenian law government and other officials can claim “criminal defamation”, whereas other citizens are referred to civil law.
“The Slovenian authorities should drop this case immediately as it flies in the face of law at the European level regarding freedom of expression. The European Court of Human Rights has consistently stated that politicians must expect greater criticism than average citizens, and yet the law prosecuting Berglund was plainly created to enable politicians to evade or escape criticism,” said IPI Director David Dadge in the IPI press release of July 31st on the case.
The documentary “Truth about Patria” was broadcast on September 1st 2008 only weeks before an election in Slovenia, which brought victory to Jansa’s opponent.
Read also Slovenian journalist Blaz Zgaga’s comment in the Guardian on the Berglund case and not least on the situation for journalists in Slovenia.
#1 by Katarina Culiberg on September 9, 2009 - 5:31 pm
“Truth about Patria” – one year after
There have been some misconceptions published in the article “Slovenia accuses Finnish journalist” by Brigitte Alfter on euobserver.com, which we feel obliged to explain further.
On 1st September 2008, three weeks before Slovenian national elections, Finnish television YLE broadcasted the documentary “Truth about Patria”. The Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund without any evidence accused the then Slovenian Prime Minister and president of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) Janez Janša of being bribed by the Finnish state-owned defence contractor Patria in the purchase of armoured personnel carriers for the Slovenian army. Without giving any opportunity to respond to such allegations before the documentary was shown, Mr Berglund breached the principles of conduct adopted by Finnish journalists, particularly its Article 12.
Due to that fact the Government Communication Office sent to the Finnish Broadcaster YLE on September 5th 2008 the text that denied all the allegations – and case by case, explained the context of the documentary and stated background information about the sources of the documentary. The common denominators of the interviewees in the program were either business relations with the unsuccessful bidder in the related deal or active engagement in the opposition election campaign. The Government therefore exercised the right of reply pursuant to the Ethical Guidelines of Finnish Journalists (Articles 21, 22 and 23). However, the Finnish television did not want to broadcast the reply and even declined to publish it on YLE web page. In order to preserve his good name, Mr. Janša had to follow the legal path in a civil law suit.
After a year not a single unambiguous piece of evidence was published to prove harsh allegations against Mr. Janša. Although Mr. Berglund in September 2008 assured that all would be proven in the court case at the beginning of 2009, so far not a single bill of indictment was filed. Not to mention that no proof for the accusations against Mr. Janša was presented.
Is ‘The truth about Patria’ therefore a production of journalist professionalism or is it rather something else?
Katarina Culiberg
Press Officer
Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS)
#2 by Magnus Berglund on September 10, 2009 - 9:12 am
SDS conspiration theory
I would like to comment shortly the text by Katarina Culiberg. I asked PM Jansa for an interview well in advance before the program was broadcasted. He wished not to give an interview. He would had been given the opportunity to respond, but his press office or he himself decided not to use this exclusive opportunity when i was visiting Ljubljana mid August 2008.
Katarina is referring to the text by the Government Communication Office sent to YLE on September 5th 2008. That paper was a witch hunt on the Slovenian persons interviewed in the program. YLE found no reason to publish the text. By the way, no one of those interviewed was a source.
I am really sorry that I could not show the actual evidence in the program. It was an extremely exceptional decision, but it was taken for two reasons. I did not want to put my sources´lives at risk. There were big money on stake, and there are people in the industry which don´t care about the methods to reach their goals. Secondly, the information and the facts I had was of such a relevance that I had to publish it.
It would had been against my duty, to wait a month until the Slovenian election was over. In the EU, journalists do not act like that. If I would had had my facts triple checked earlier, I would of course had published the program earlier. That would had been much more damaging for Your PM, while Slovenia was taking care of the EU presidency in the first half of 2008. Think about that.
Finally, I have nothing to do with the timetables of the Finnish police. Now the police has communicated that they hope to give this historical case to the Finnish State Prosecutor by the end of the year.
As an indication, I made a first program about Patria´s business methods in Egypt, in May 2007. Within a couple of weeks that case, 9000 pages and nine suspects, will finally be on the State Prosecutors´table.
Ivan Jansa (that is apparently Janez real name according to the paper filed to the court) has finally found a prosecutor at the Ljubljana office who is ready to attack me. I cannot see it as anything else than a political move to manipulate the Slovenian public. It seems to be easy to sell the idea that a single journalist in a country far away had the motivation to rock their beloved Prime Minister´s chair. My motivation was to tell the Finnish audience about our company´s business methods. It was not my idea that Patria decided to pay millions in bribes, it was not my idea that there are people receiving these bribes. I am a journalist, not a politician, not a police, not a prosecutor, not a judge. In Europe, people understand this distinction.
I feel really sorry for the Slovenian people about how SDS is manipulating and influencing the media in Slovenia. But, I can understand the situation. Finland was at a somewhat similar level 30 years ago. But things have improved. Today, journalists can be journalists in Finland. I am convinced that things will improve in Slovenia too. After ten years, a lot of people in Slovenia will feel ashame about this dark period, but every nation has to walk it´s own path towards a real freedom of speech.
This year, I received two of the three big journalist awards in Finland for The Truth About Patria. I am listed as number 70. among the most influential people in Business Ethics globally, by the New York based Ethisphere Institute.
http://ethisphere.com/100-most-influential-people-in-business-ethics-2008/
#3 by Brigitte Alfter on September 11, 2009 - 10:14 am
Another case from Slovenia
September 9th, 2009, Reporters Sans Frontiers: Courts urged to stop persecuting Ljubljana daily, http://www.rsf.org/Courts-urged-to-stop-persecuting.html
September 8th, 2009, International Press Institute: Slovene Court rejects Dnevning Appeal against Gag Order, http://www.freemedia.at/index.php?id=304&tx_ttnewstt_news=4539&cHash=3d1f41964b
And a worrying overview from all over Europe: http://www.freemedia.at/index.php?id=305
#4 by Jennyh on September 11, 2009 - 5:57 pm
As someone who has a Slovenian law degree and as someone who is of a Slovenian nationality, I feel the need to express my opinion regarding this matter. I do not know anyone from the political scene, nor am I a member of any political party. I am just someone who follows politics quite closely and knows something about criminal law. Because it doesn’t take an expert to figure out what happened here. Mr. Berglund may well be an award winning journalist in Finland, but in Slovenia he is someone who made statements,accused someone of a very serious crime. In our country that is a criminal offense. Simple as that. Article 171 of the penal code. Who should we, the “poor” people, believe?
I personally do not believe him. He constantly is making statements about, how he would be arrested if he set foot on Slovenian soil, how he is pleased he doesn’t have to come here and how he feels bad for us, the Slovenian people! You see, Mr. Berglund was used as a tool to discredit our former priminister. Seeking a sensationalist story, he fell for all the lies that were told to him. Why else, would he avoid Slovenia ? Why not come here, show us what you have, explain all the Js,clear your name and “save ” us poor people?!
So, does his prosecution attack freedom of speech? No, it does not. I firmly believe, that freedom of speech is the basis of a democratic society. But it is not absolute. Journalist have responsibilities when reporting. They do not have the free reign to go around Europe and tell lies. If a crime was committed here, and that is left to the court, then he should be punished.
I do not understand a serious journalist who would rather be a deemed a criminal, then show all his cards(. Because as someone who went to law school I only believe the things I see. So far, we have seen nothing from him and I doubt we ever will.
Kind regards,
J
#5 by Iva Markovec on September 11, 2009 - 6:03 pm
Mr. Berglund,
the bottom line is, will you prove your story or not. Will the court prove your story or not. And its funny that you can “tripple check” your information in a couple of months but teams of prosecutors can’t.
If you choose not to, than perhaps *you* are manipulating the public in the first place. Perhaps. I don’t know. Maybe you do have proofs. But then why call someone who cries “prove it” to be manipulating and creating a whole silly story around it. This is defensive. No need to do so, if you feel secure about your truth.
I too am sorry for the state of the media in Slovenia and hope (1) that the freedom of speech will not be an excuse for a right to tell *deliberate* lies and (2) that the freedom will be exercised against *all* politicians.
This blog’s intro says “Is transparency just a buzz-word – or is there true openness and scrutiny? ” I expect transparency from journalists as well. You, Mr. Berglund, are not.
PS. On the matter of Cerani. What would make we worried about the state would be if your story on Janša would be handled by the courts with a similar zeal and speed. It was not.
#6 by Simon Jereb on September 11, 2009 - 6:35 pm
Thanks to Mr. Berglund Slovenia is now in hands of the worst kind of communists. We feel like Russians invaded Finland.
Mr. Berglund time to do Truth about Zgaga. How much has he got, who sent him, who made you a puppet to destroy life of next generations of slovenians. You know that now the state (communists) is the owner of all biggest media, you know that we don’t have freedom of press and you don’t say a word about it.
Mr. Berglund I hope you will never suffer as we do.
#7 by Slovenian on September 11, 2009 - 7:18 pm
They (SDS) have special department in their party, called “the comment departmen”. Their goal is to comment as much as they can on blogs, articles and other media. So it is highly possible that Katarina, Jennyh, Iva and Simon are all J.
#8 by Jennyh on September 11, 2009 - 7:26 pm
As I have said, I do not belong to any party, nor do i know anyone in SDS. My only interest is the truth, which will be proven in the court of law! Yours clearly is not.
#9 by Slovenian on September 11, 2009 - 7:35 pm
here we go again…
#10 by foo on September 11, 2009 - 11:32 pm
Berglund,
how could you possibly feel sorry for us, “poor Slovenians”? Feel sorry for your credibility instead.
#11 by boljsevik on September 12, 2009 - 8:30 am
@Magnus Berglund
Dear Mr. Berglund, we, Slovenian citizens would like to thank you for being a tool in the hands of the boljsevik media in Slovenia which are in the hands of friends of former leadereship of the communist party. Together we managed with unsubstantiated allegations against Janez Jansa who we have put in the army jail in the nineteeneighties to owerthrown his governenment and so now the boljseviks are back in bussiness.
Yes, during the time of Jansa’s government there was a huge politisation of the media – the former chief of the communist party was kicked out as the president of the board of the public TV. Politisation indeed. Luckily more than 500 journalists (majority working in the communist controled media) has signed a petiton against this huge politization – realy what a bad boy Jansa is if his government passed the law with which the former chief of the communist party could no longer be the main man in the public TV.
Realy thank you again for saving us poor Slovenians and to help the dream team of incompetent communist idiots to take over the government which immediately remembered the boljsevik practice and called Jansa for interogattion because of his private marriage.
So don’t worry, the new governemt is in charge of the thing communists know the best – they are in control of the police and since you are their friend, you will never be asked one single question.
If I were you I would bring an umbrella though as probably the majority of the citizens would be more than happy to spit in your face.
#12 by Maja on September 12, 2009 - 1:56 pm
Mr. Berglund,
I just want to say, you don’t have to feel sorry for us, Slovenian people.
SDS is only one of parties in Slovenia. Every party stands for their views. If we want, we listen and then decide what we think about it and what we agree with or not. It’s up to every person. You don’t really believe, we are ordered what to think, do you?
Telling us, that we are 30 years behind you just shows, that someone who ran out of arguements, starts to insult. Regardless of our history, we are, like any other EU nation, thinking people with our own heads. Maybe in the past YOU were being brainwashed, that here was everything bad and that we lived in caves or something?
Well, I don’t know much about the law and politics, I don’t even have much interes to. I just think this: of course you (journalists) have to reveil bad things, criminal etc… there is no doubt about that, but you have to do it RESPONSEBLY. Eventhough you are a recognized journalist, it doesn’t mean that you can say just everything, no matter consequences. You have to be responsible. Sorry, but that is the thing: you can’t accuse people without any proof. That is a common sense. One doesn’t have only rights, but also resposebilities, Mr. Berglund.
Think about that: if things were just the other way arround. Imagine our journalist would for example accoused your prime minister. He (PM) would have the right (in a democratic EU, as you so much like to say) to sue the person, who wrote something against him, if he thought he was unfairly accused. And if Slovenian journalist would protest against being sued, you would say, how undemocratic and »30-years-ago« country Slovenia is, because we don’t let someone to sue somebody. After all – if this somebody didn’t do anything wrong, she/he has nothing to be afraid of, doesn’t she/he?
And that there would be no mistake, I am not for Janša, I never was, and I think never wil be.
I know that bad things are happening all over the world, here and everywhere else (including Finland). Of course the criminals should be catched and punnished. Of course I know there’s a lot of dirt in our society, but then again, nothing more than eveywhere else. But only if here is something corrupt, you accuse the hole nation, how we are »behind«. The reason in your head is always our past obviousley. Why don’t you think that people can be criminals, just because they are, just like they can be anywhere else. It has nothing to do with the past.
Having socialistic past isn’t so bad after all. We have this experience and you don’t. We learned something out of that. Maybe we can see clearer the problems of the present times.
Anyhow, we’re all in the same now. So, I think it is not very adult of you, that almost in every sentence of yours one can feel, that you think you’re »above all«, better than us, that you think you are superior. It’s a shame. And I feel sorry for you (you personaly, not you as a nation), Mr. Berglund.
#13 by Cita on December 29, 2009 - 1:15 am
Mr. Berglund!
You write: “I am sorry that I could not show the actual evidence in the program.” And:”I did not want to put my sources’ lives at risk.”
What do you mean, Mr. Berglund?
Who are your sources afraid of? Mr. Jansa? His supporters? Are you hinting they are potential killers?
You write:”I feel really sorry for the Slovenian people about how SDS is manipulating and influencing the media in Slovenia.”
This is a really stupid sentence. It shows your complete ignorance about the situation in Slovenia.
Mr. Berglund you may get any number of awards but you are still an incompetent journalist.
Look at the article Dialogues over a Black Hole by Alenka Puhar (on my blog) to see how a good journalist writes.