"The case raises a few legal and especially ethical questions," is what court president Marjan Pogačnik said at the press-conference. He emphasized that ethics were very important in the work of judges. He drew attention to the Code of judicial ethics, which demands from judges "restraint, tolerance, and the protection of everyone's dignity, both at work and privately." "That's the weight the profession we've chosen carries with it," explained Pogačnik.

Pogačnik: I'm disappointed over Baraga's comments
Pogačnik is of the opinion that the code of ethics was not respected in some of Baraga's tweets. The President of the Ljubljana District Court also said that he would always defend a judge who was under fire without any justification. However in this case he said could not defend judge Baraga. Pogačnik said he was disappointed over the contentious tweets. "In the given situation I have no arguments with which to justify certain comments on Baraga's Twitter profile," he said.

Pogačnik believes that Baraga's action has caused much harm to the judiciary. Baraga has expressed himself in an inappropriate way while commenting about individuals and state institutions. The Disciplinary court will also take action on the issue. Pogačnik is to initiate disciplinary action against Baraga next week.

Perhaps such procedures won't even be necessary. "Baraga told me he would withdraw from his profession of judge," said Pogačnik. Baraga is supposedly already active in pursuing a career outside the court. According to Pogačnik, Baraga told him that he no longer wished to burden the court with his case. So far Baraga has only announced his withdrawal, which means that for the time being he still remains a district court judge. Because of that, Pogačnik believes that the sensible thing to do at this moment is to call for disciplinary measures.

Next week Pogačnik will also request for an extraordinary assessment of the judge's work. And the third measure will not be directed only against Baraga, but will have the intention to prevent such conduct in the future. As court president, Pogačnik will ask the Council for judicial ethics at the Judges' Association to give an opinion on this kind of conduct.
Pogačnik further stated that to think that all the cases being led by Baraga are now questionable would "not be appropriate". The judge is not considered "infected" in all the cases he leads, added Pogačnik.

Contentious comments from an investigative judge
Baraga was the on-call investigative judge who signed the court order for the searches at the home of Alenka Bratušek, at the offices of the ZaAB Alliance for Alenka Bratušek party, as well as at the government. On the 29th of July last year, in the period of choosing a candidate for European Commissioner, Baraga wrote on his Twitter profile: "Korl would be just the man for commissioner. While he does damage there we can take a rest from him and AB, who is luckily too weak for anything."

Alenka Bratušek's attorney, Aleksander Čeferin, announced that he would use Baraga's comment about Bratušek on Twitter as an argument to challenge the lawfulness of the proceedings against her. For Čeferin it is absolutely unacceptable for Baraga to still be able to decide about court proceedings while expressing such points of view.

Regarding his contentious comments, Baraga said he separated what he said and wrote in his private and professional life. He said that there are procedures which can judge whether he acted professionally and within the law.

G. C., B. V.; translated by K. J.