The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, today attended a reunion with Ivan Borštner, David Tasič and Franci Zavrl, in the former prison on Metelkova Street in Ljubljana, in keeping with the tradition of commemorating the ‘JBTZ Affair’ that, at the end of the 1980s, forever changed the course of Slovenian politics.

 

(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

On the twentieth anniversary of the start of the trial against the ‘JBTZ Four’, Prime Minister Janez Janša said that the feelings experienced today bore no comparison to their feelings back in 1988, “Twenty years ago, nobody could have predicted that Slovenia would develop the way it has. I myself had no idea that, 20 years on, I would revisit the former prison, now the best youth hostel in the world. This is a symbol that reflects all the changes Slovenia has undergone in this time.”

 

(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

The Prime Minister observed that, among those who, 20 years ago, had fervently wished for things to change in Slovenia and for human rights to be respected in the future, virtually nobody had imagined that Slovenia would not only join the European Union but would take on a central role at its helm by holding the EU Presidency.

 

(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

He added that he was grateful, not only on his own behalf but also on behalf of Slovenia - bearing in mind what it had achieved since that time - to all those who, 20 years ago, had demonstrated against the arrest of the ‘JBTZ Four’. He also expressed thanks to all the people who had come to Roška Street and Kongresni trg and who had been members of the extended Human Rights Committee. “I think I can safely say that we are all grateful, individually and collectively, to all those people regardless of which side of the political spectrum we stand on today,” concluded the Slovenian Prime Minister.