SLOVENIA: DAS MARK PEKALA DISCUSSES TIP WITH CHIEF

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000353 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/FO (PEKALA),EUR/NCE (TRIM),G/TIP E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: DAS MARK PEKALA DISCUSSES TIP WITH CHIEF PROSECUTOR Classified By: CDA Maryruth Coleman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Summary. During his two-day visit to Slovenia May 23-24, DAS Mark Pekala met with Slovenian Chief State Prosecutor Barbara Brezigar. Brezigar welcomed the meeting and was very open about the well known deficiencies of the Slovene judicial system, including the excessive length of court proceedings, which she has been charged to address from the prosecutorial end. She stressed, however, that the system would not run efficiently until deficiencies in the judiciary were fully addressed. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) In his first meeting with Chief State Prosecutor Barbara Brezigar, DAS Pekala praised the efforts Brezigar and her team were making to combat white collar crime and expressed belief that our future cooperation on that front would continue to be successful. He also raised the issue of prosecution and conviction of human traffickers. Slovenia's track record on this is slim, and the GOS needs to take determined steps in this area to show some concrete success. 3.(SBU) Brezigar acknowledged the deficiencies of the Slovene judicial system saying there was a real knowledge deficit throughout the system, not just in the area of trafficking but also on how to investigate, prosecute and judge many white collar crimes. This is something she is trying hard to address and has begun first by working on the relationship between prosecutors and the police. Slovenia's system of investigation is complex and relies on the prosecutor's direction of the police in investigations. Once the investigation is completed, the prosecutor will decide whether or not to prosecute a case. At that point, the judge assigned to the case will instigate his own investigation, further delaying the decision to prosecute. This is a frustratingly long process for any Slovene involved in cases requiring criminal investigation. The added complication for prosecution of TIP related cases is that most TIP victims, if willing to participate in a prosecution initially, are unwilling to linger in Slovenia for the months and years it can take to bring the case to court, let alone come to conclusion. When faced with long delays, victims tend to choose to return home before the prosecution can get started. Brezigar hopes that new legislation will address the redundancy of the judicial investigation and help to shorten the overall time it takes to bring a case to court. ¶4. (SBU) Brezigar agreed that the lack of prosecution and conviction of human traffickers is a problem. While she outlined the excellent progress made both with police investigations and the technical knowledge necessary to prosecute these types of cases, she re-iterated the serious deficiencies among judges when it came to hearing the cases. Despite changes in law enacted in May of 2004 making human trafficking a criminal act, she claimed that this change had not yet taken root in the collective mind of judges. There is not a single judge in Slovenia with specific knowledge and expertise to try these often complicated cases. Brezigar lamented that the judges are fiercely protective of their independence to the extent that they are overly suspicious of any sort of training or education recommended or offered by other parts of the government and generally will not participate. ¶5. (SBU) Comment: Brezigar and her team understand that prosecution and convictions of traffickers is the weak link in Slovenia's otherwise effective anti-trafficking program. This will be a difficult and delicate problem to address primarily because of resistance of judges to training and education on the matter. They would view training offered by NGOs or other experts as improper attempts to influence an independent judiciary. Peer exchanges may be one way to approach them. Post would be interested in knowing if judges could be identified or if programs exist through G/TIP or other DRL offices which would help us to help Slovenia address this crucial piece of its anti-TIP program. ¶6. (U) DAS Pekala cleared this cable. COLEMAN