Slovenia drops charges against investigative reporter

Slovenia on Wednesday dropped charges against a  journalist accused of having used classified information to uncover links between a neo-Nazi group and the main opposition party.

State prosecutor Andreja Zvanut withdrew all charges against Anuska Delic, an investigative reporter of the left-leaning daily Delo, because of “lack of evidence”, Slovenian news agency STA reported.

Delic was facing up to three years in prison for her publication in 2011 of a series of articles based on leaked information that showed Slovenia’s SOVA intelligence service was aware of ties between the centre-right opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and a neo-Nazi group called Blood and Honour.

At a hearing last week, Delic presented evidence that most of the material used in her articles had already been published by the SDS, media and social networks.

Ahead of the trial, Delic defended the articles as being in the public interest.

She said the charges against her were “politically motivated” and had been instigated when the SDS briefly retook power in 2012-2013.

The trial was condemned by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who warned that it represented a threat against media freedom in the small EU nation.