crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
Mateja Čoh *
Characteristics of the judicial system in Slovenia
between 1945 and 1951
1. Introduction
The Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) began consolidating power immediately after the
end of the Second World War. This was the period of so-called “people’s democracy”, which lasted
until 1950 and was characterised by authority held by the people and the representative body elected
from among their ranks – the “People’s Council”. 1 It was characterised by the unity of the authorities
and democratic centralism. The new political elite (Communist Party) held the strings of legislative,
executive and judicial power in its hands. Professional qualifications were not the only measure of
fitness for performing certain functions; political suitability was more important. This was also evident
in the organisation of the judicial system and in the elections of judges. In practice, the upholding of
the principle of the unity of the authorities meant an interweaving of political and state authorities,
since various political bodies carried out tasks, which are allocated to executive or judicial bodies
in a parliamentary democracy. Extremely severe forms of violations of human rights and freedoms
also occurred during this period. 2 These included mass illegal killings, the existence and operation of
concentration and labour camps, the eviction of populations from their places of residence and violent
seizure of property. The authorities in various ways reached into every area of social life, relying on
the secret political police, the so-called Department of National Protection (OZNA) or State Security
Administration (UDV). Established in May 1944, it acquired a significant role in connection with
preparations for the seizure of power after the end of the war, when it played an important role especially
in driving out collaborators with the enemy and opponents of the new system. It also played a very
important role in the administration of justice, especially in interrogating suspects and investigatory
procedures.
The second half of the 1940s was also characterised by numerous political and staged judicial
proceedings against so-called “class enemies”. A large number of proceedings were held against farmers,
merchants and tradesmen, industrialists, priests, people who were suspected of having collaborated
with the enemy during the war or spied for Western intelligence services, and suspected members of the
opposition. The courts imposed extremely harsh sentences. This was contributed to significantly by the
organisation of the judicial system, and therefore in this paper we shall present the main characteristics
of that system, the operation of military tribunals and the Court of Slovenian National Honour in the
summer of 1945, the characteristics of judicial proceedings against members and supporters of illegal
groups and the characteristics of proceedings against prominent farmers at the end of the 1940s.
2. Judicial proceedings in the summer of 1945
Regular civil courts had not yet been established in Slovenia in the summer of 1945. At the time,
judicial proceedings were held before military tribunals, which also heard civilians, and before the
Court of Slovenian National Honour.
After the end of the war, the territory of Slovenia in a military sense was administered by the 4 th
* Dr Mateja Čoh, Študijski center za narodno spravo, Study Centre for National Reconciliation, 1000 Ljubljana.
1
Roman Ferjančič, Lovro Šturm, Brezpravje – slovensko pravosodje po letu 1945 (Lawlessness – The Slovenian Judiciary after 1945),
Ljubljana 1998, pp. 12–13 (hereinafter Ferjančič, Šturm, Brezpravje); Jerca Vodušek Starič, “Med ljudsko demokracijo in demokracijo”
(“Between People’s Democracy and Democracy”), in: Slovenija 1848–1998, pp. 312–313; Jerca Vodušek Starič, Prevzem oblasti 1944–
1946 (The Seizing of Power 1944–1946), Ljubljana 1992, pp. 283–284 (hereinafter Vodušek Starič, Prevzem oblasti).
2
Lovro Šturm, “O kratenju človekovih pravic in temeljnih svoboščin v Sloveniji v obdobju 1945–1990” (“On the Encroachment of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Slovenia 1945–1990”), in: Temna stran meseca (The Dark Side of the Moon), pp. 65–112.
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