Archives of the Republic of Slovenia

The Archives of the Republic of Slovenia are the national archives of Slovenia. They were created in 1945, but have their origins in 1773. They are supervised by the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. They are located in the Gruber Palace in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Since March 2010, the executive director is Dragan Matić.

Controversy

In January 2011, Slovenian media reported that the Commission for Supervision of the Intelligence and Security Services (Supervisory Commission) would file a criminal complaint against Dragan Matić and the director of the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Service (SOVA) Sebastjan Selan for having denied the author Igor Omerza access to the archives of the former National Security Service.^[1] According to the president of the commission Zvonko Černač, the same archives were already accessed in the past by a young researcher. He believes that the opening of the archives would disclose sensitive information about the people holding the leading positions in Slovenia. He also stated that the mentioned archives were taken to SOVA in October 2010 and returned to the Archives in November 2010.

On 25 January, the incumbent Prime Minister Borut Pahor explained that Selan had not acted as he had due to some partial interests, for example to protect someone, but because of a great danger that a problem threatening the national security could emerge. He also stated that the withheld archives concerned the activities of the people that had been active outside the country. The Government of Slovenia decided in January 2011 to send a new act sanctioning the withholding of some of the archives to the National Assembly through the accelerated procedure.^[2]

On 29 January, the opposition leader Janez Janša wrote a public letter to Borut Pahor, demanding from the Prime Minister to call the meeting of the presidents of all parliamentary parties and deputy groups of Slovenia regarding the closure of the archives. He stated that the incident is the first in the history of Slovenia since the proclamation of independence in 1991 that a state institution had publicly announced it would not respect law and illegally curtailed citizen rights. According to Janša, this is also the first case since 1991 that SOVA prevented the Supervisory Commission from inspecting it.^[3]

On 4 February 2011, the National Assembly passed a new act on the archives.^[4]

References

1. ^ "Černačeva komisija bo kazensko ovadila Selana in Matića [The Černač's Commission Will File A Criminal Complaint Against Selan and Matić]" (in Slovene). Finance.si. 25 January 2011. http://www.finance.si/301093/%C8erna%E8eva-komisija-bo-kazensko-ovadila-Selana-in-Mati%E6a. 
2. ^ "Zaradi zapiranja arhivov ovadbi proti direktorjema Sove in Arhiva [Criminal Complaints Against the Directors of SOVA and the Archives due to the closing of the archives]". MMC RTV Slovenija. 25 January 2011. http://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/zaradi-zapiranja-arhivov-ovadbi-proti-direktorjema-sove-in-arhiva/249430. 
3. ^ "Janša pisal Pahorju: Želi politični vrh zaradi zaprtja arhivov [Janša Had Written to Pahor: Demands a Political Summit Regarding the Closure of the Archives]" (in Slovene). MMC RTV Slovenia. 30 January 2011. http://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/jansa-pisal-pahorju-zeli-politicni-vrh-zaradi-zaprtja-arhivov/249809. 
4. ^ http://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/drzavni-zbor-sprejel-novelo-zakona-o-arhivih/250171

See also

• List of national archives

External links

• The Archives of the Republic of Slovenia

Coordinates: 46°2′44.28″N 14°30′24.84″E / 46.0456333°N 14.5069°E / 46.0456333; 14.5069