Rupel fined over Kosovo leak probe

Dimitrij Rupel has been declared guilty of conducting an illegal investigation within the Slovenian ministry of foreign affairs, which he heads. The probe was launched after transcripts of conversations Slovenian and U.S. diplomats had in late 2007, about plans for the declaration of Kosovo's independence, were leaked to the press. Rupel fined over Kosovo leak probe Now Slovenia's public information ombudsman Natasa Pirc-Musar decided to fine both Rupel and the ministry's secretary general, Igor Jakic, EUR 1,660 each over a breach of legal proceedings. Pirc-Musar says she made the decision after determining that the pair illegally processed personal data of the ministry's employees, and granted the job to do this to a company without putting together a proper contract. Rupel reacted by asking for court protection, the ministry of foreign affairs said in Ljubljana. A statement added that the minister found it "very strange" that the ombudsman had publicly commented on her decision that is not legally binding. Rupel sees this as media pressure on the judiciary, adding that the move by Pirc-Musar in this context constituted for "a breach of human rights". At the same time, the minister accused the ombudsman of being responsible for halting the investigation into the leak of the so-called Washington dispatch. Pirc-Musar responded that she stopped only the illegal part of the probe. "Responsibility for failure should not be transferred to others. If the ministry can't do this themselves, they should hire foreign experts," she was quoted as saying. The decision to fine Rupel is the latest development in a scandal that broke out in late January, when details of Slovenian MFA director Mitja Drobnic's conversations with counterparts in Washington were first published by Ljubljana's Delo newspaper, and then by Belgrade's Politika. The document was a list of requests the United States had prepared for Slovenia as this country was about to take over the six-month rotating EU presidency, including plans for Kosovo's secession. Among them was the demand to have Kosovo Albanian authorities make their unilateral declaration of independence "on a Sunday, so that Russia cannot call a UN Security Council meeting". Dimitrij Rupel (FoNet, archive)

Rupel fined over Kosovo leak probe

Now Slovenia's public information ombudsman Nataša Pirc-Musar decided to fine both Rupel and the ministry's secretary general, Igor Jakič, EUR 1,660 each over a breach of legal proceedings.

Pirc-Musar says she made the decision after determining that the pair illegally processed personal data of the ministry's employees, and granted the job to do this to a company without putting together a proper contract.

Rupel reacted by asking for court protection, the ministry of foreign affairs said in Ljubljana. A statement added that the minister found it "very strange" that the ombudsman had publicly commented on her decision that is not legally binding.

Rupel sees this as media pressure on the judiciary, adding that the move by Pirc-Musar in this context constituted for "a breach of human rights".

At the same time, the minister accused the ombudsman of being responsible for halting the investigation into the leak of the so-called Washington dispatch.

Pirc-Musar responded that she stopped only the illegal part of the probe.

"Responsibility for failure should not be transferred to others. If the ministry can't do this themselves, they should hire foreign experts," she was quoted as saying.

The decision to fine Rupel is the latest development in a scandal that broke out in late January, when details of Slovenian MFA director Mitja Drobnič's conversations with counterparts in Washington were first published by Ljubljana's Delo newspaper, and then by Belgrade's Politika.

The document was a list of requests the United States had prepared for Slovenia as this country was about to take over the six-month rotating EU presidency, including plans for Kosovo's secession.

Among them was the demand to have Kosovo Albanian authorities make their unilateral declaration of independence "on a Sunday, so that Russia cannot call a UN Security Council meeting".