A parliamentary inquiry to investigate suspected political influence by officeholders during the current and previous governments on the police and other independent state bodies was launched in parliament following a request from the ruling Freedom Movement.
The aim of the investigation is to determine whether the members of governments under former Prime MinisterJanez Janša and the current Robert Golob government one meddled in specific police procedures or wanted to prevent the police from doing their job or hinder their work.
“Under the previous government, the police was subjugated to the political ambitions of the Democrats,” the party which was in power at the time, said MP Nataša Avšič Bogovič from the Freedom Movement.
The Democrats, now the main opposition party, have decried the inquiry as a “witch hunt,” with MP Žan Mahnič saying that the current government wanted to “obscure the fact that it is Prime Minister Golob who is meddling in the police.”
There is mounting evidence the previous government exerted political pressure on the police force, as evident from a recent report on police conduct during pandemic-era anti-government protests and a number of lawsuits filed against senior members of the force as a result of an internal inquiry.
However, the current government has been accused of meddling as well.
Indeed, Tatjana Bobnar stepped down as interior minister late last year, accusing Prime Minister Golob of wanting to sidestep formal procedures and “purge” the force of staff appointed to senior posts during the previous government’s rule.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)
Source: euractiv.com
