Situation in the Army

Tenants on Sale

Situation in Slovenian army is regular; major Troha is protesting in front of the parliament building every day since 1 July, minister of defence (illegally) granted himself an apartment of 117 square metres, and the ministry of defence has put apartments on sale - along with their tenants

AIM Ljubljana, 8 October, 1998

In the past few days ago, Slovenia celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of its territorial defence which after establishment of the independent state developed into the Slovenian army. Merits of the territorial defence at the time of the danger of Soviet intervention were stressed, as well as its immeasurable role during the ten-day war in June 1991.

Approximately at the same time, all dailies carried news that the opposition was preparing to call the current minister of defence, Alojz Krapez, to account because he was caught in a fraudulence in resolving his own housing problem. Or more precisely - journalists have found out that minister Krapez had used his post to grant himself an apartment of about 120 square metres downtown Ljubljana. The minister corroborated his decision by reasons of "security", because his previous housing unit allegedly was not safe enough. The catch, however, lies in the fact that Krapez is not an employee of the Ministry, but a member of the government. And housing needs of members of the government are the responsibility of the government housing commission. It is true that the minister addressed his application for an apartment to this commission, but almost a month after he had moved into his new apartment which was paid for by the ministry of defence.

To make things even more juicy, it soon turned out that the ministry of defence had to sell three apartments from the total dwellings of the formet Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to make enough money to buy "appropriate" ccommodation for its minister. Government services which in the meantime checked the documentation concluded that the minister's housing problem was solved, but - illegally. Head of Slovenian government, Janez Drnovsek, could do nothing else but admit that a member of his cabinet had committed an infringement, but at the same time, he added that he did not support Krapez's resignation, because he allegedly could not change his minister of defence every six months.

Tenants on Sale

This is not the end of the story, since it still is not clear whether the ministry has sold empty apartments or this time patented a novelty in evictions by having sold apartments together with their tenants.

It is an established fact that for eight years already in Slovenia a dispute has been going on between the state and numerous tenants of army-owned apartments which had been the property of the former JNA. It all began at the moment when the Slovenian state reached a conclusion that all of them who had moved into the mentioned apartments during the critical months of the moratorium (1991) pursuant a decision of JNA authorities were - illegally living there! After that, formal hearings had taken place in which the courts reached a series of decisions in favour of evictions which were interrupted only because of public protests and a negative reaction this operation caused in Europe.

Therefore, the state was forced to use a trick and sell the incriminated apartments without the knowledge of their tenants who were deprived of the right to become the owners of the roof above their heads during the operation of selling of socially-owned housing units, only because they had been granted their homes (or got them by exchange) at the time when the former state was dissolved. That is how the new Slovenian administration claimed for itself this category of army apartments in the name of high state interests.

Nowadays, it turns out that transactions concerning the confiscated apartments are not a litigation between the state and damaged individuals, but between two private persons, those who live in the apartments and the ones who had bought them from the state. This was the reason for the Slovenian Helsinki Monitor to convene a press conference and present the destiny of a former officer of the JNA, a Slovene, who was left without the apartment he had lived in in Zenica because members of the Bosnian army had confiscated it. Now he will probably be evicted from the apartment he was allocated in Ljubljana. If he does not set himself on fire in the apartment, as he threatened to do. This would certainly be the most bizarre method to shake up the bureacracy and stimulate the officials to investigate machinations involving the housing units of the former JNA.

This is just the latest in a series of scandals which are shaking the Slovenian army ever since this country had become independent. Consequences of another scandal are still shaking the army; a few days after celebration of the seventh anniversary of Slovenian independence, more precisely, on 1 July, downtown Ljubljana became the scene of an unusual sight. At seven o'clock in the morning, an officer of the Slovenisn army arrived at the square which separates the building of the Slovenian assembly from Cankar's House. He saluted the Slovenian flag hoisted there, turned around on his heel and remained standing at attention. It was clear that he was not a member of the honorary guards; he was major of the Slovenian army Ladislav Troha, who was standing in front of the Slovenian parliament during working hours, protesting against the situation in the Slovenian army.

By profession, major Troha is a salesman and a manager, who began his career in the army in 1983, first as a parachuter in Nis, and then an officer of the JNA reserve forces in Bileca. He became active again eight years later, by taking part in the special Moris brigade during the war against the JNA. As majority of Slovenian officers, Troha too was actually a civilian dressed in army uniform. He had not attended military schools, nor had the required university education. This did not prevent him from starting to stir commotion, by giving a few statements to the media in which he sharply criticised the situation in the army. He wrote to his superiors and demanded radical changes, and since nothing was happening, he publicly demanded resignation of the entire commanding cadre, the minister in charge, the prime minister, Janez Drnovsek, and even the head of the state, Milan Kucan.

Although the whole intrigue seems quite bizarre, in view of the fact that before he lost his job in the army, he had been the first army officer who was regularly and officially on strike carrying a gun at his belt, media estimated that his protest was to a significant extent justified and that it proved, as daily Delo from Ljubljana wrote, that: "the situation in Slovenian army is not as the military leaders are trying to present it to the domestic and the foreign public".

No Shoes and Gas masks

What is, according to the opinion of major Trohe, so catastrophic about the Slovenian army? Bad shoes, for instance. They are made by Alpina for the army, and they are shaped so that after five kilometres of march, soldiers' Achilles' tendons break. The uniforms are not of a very good quality either, since the army has to seek shelter indoors as soon as the temperature drops below minus nine degrees Centigrade, to say nothing about the fact that all soldiers do not even have complete gear, spades, water-flasks or gas masks. That is why two years ago Troha wondered publicly: "How would we lead such soldiers into combat?"

His latest operation against the way the army is managed by the military leadership revealed another weakness of the Slovenian army. This is the acute lack of discipline which is the result of the fact that Slovenia has no military courts. This is, again, the result of the developments in recent history, and the resistance of the public to military courts due to the trial against the four (JBTZ - Jansa, Borstner, Tasic and Zavrl) organized by the former JNA ten years ago in Ljubljana. Thanks to this, the rebellious officer found himself in "legal vacuum", since at first the army was unable to find the real weapon against him. Until the decision on discharge from the service in Slovenian army was handed to him...

Many believe that Troha's protest was a disgrace for Slovenia, and it caused a great deal of commotion in the army. Ministry of defence even organized crisis headquarters and charged them to monitor Troha's protest every day, until the outcome with the discharge. First they tried to remove major Troha from the street by sending his immediate superior, but Troha flatly refused in front of TV cameras to obey the order to enter the army jeep and end his protest. Then the army tried to involve the police believing that it could arrest him, but the police refused to intervene with the excuse that he was an army officer...

Finally, head of the general staff himself appeared in front of the cameras and admitted to the public that disciplinary proceedings had already been instituted against him, but that they were interrupted because of major's threat that he would protest in public. The proceedings were reinstituted, and then interrupted again when the major was invited for negotiations in the parliamentary committee for defence. The meeting did not last long, because Troha left under the pretext that he was going to see his family. Finally stubborn Troja was asked to end his strike by the president of the war veterans' organization - which best illustrates the impotence of the state administration.

It is not difficult to imagine what would have happened to such an officer in some other army - from packing him into a military police paddy wagon, stripping of rank and confiscating his uniform, to summary court proceedings. The system in Slovenia is incomplete, and therefore, the public is is now deeply divided. Some declare that they are ashamed of such an anarchic army, while others believe that the rebellious officer is entitled to protest, and that this is a case of conscientious objection, which is a tradition in Slovenia ever since the time of the previous regime.

Be that what it may, all those who think this side of Slovenian democracy is likable or just wish to laugh at this unusual military phenomenon, can still take the opportunity and have a chat with the rebellious major who is despite the decision of the army disciplinary commission (against which he lodged a complaint) still protesting dressed in his uniform in front of the parliament building, helping other rebels who are demonstrating in front of the Slovenian assembly almost every day. Not long ago, for example, he carried the wheel-chair of a peasant who was, seeking justice, on a hunger strike, and who was half dead carried into the parliament building where his conditions were met. And while new scandals are passing IN and BY the parliament, the by now stripped of rank major Troha is still standing. Across the street from it.

Igor Mekina