Deputy Charges Slovenia Police Over Gypsy

Slovenia's ombudsman is charging police for unauthorized surveillance of reporters and a relocated Gypsy family, media said Wednesday.

Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek told a news conference in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana he filed charges against the police for secretly following movements of the 31-member Gypsy family and scores of reporters who covered the events for weeks, Serbia's B92 radio reported.

Hanzek said he asked the state prosecutors' office to investigate police activities relating to the Gypsy family, whose members included 14 children.

The Slovenian journalists' union also said the behavior of the police administration was unacceptable.

At the moment, the Gypsy family is accommodated temporarily at Ljubljana's military base to spend the winter months, before authorities provide them with permanent housing.

The family has made frequent moves across Slovenia since the government relocated them in October, after villagers at Ambrus, east of Ljubljana, threatened to kill them.

© 2007 UPI

http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_10534-Deputy-Charges-Slovenia-Police-Over-Gypsy.html

Slovenia Gypsy Family Settled Temporarily

Villagers near Slovenia's capital asked for a government guarantee that a 31-member Gypsy family will remain in a military base nearby only temporarily.

The Sentvid municipality Thursday evening urged the Slovenian government and Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic to keep them informed about plans for the relocated Gypsy family, Serbia's B92 radio said Friday.

On Dec. 24, the Slovenian government moved the Gypsy family, including 14 children, to Ljubljana's Roje military base amid villagers' protests. The government intended to keep the Gypsies there during winter months until it provides a permanent accommodation, probably in March.

A week before Christmas Day, local authorities razed five small shacks on land owned by the Strojan Gypsy family at the village of Ambrus, east of Ljubljana.

The government moved the Strojans from Ambrus late in October when villagers threatened to kill them and every time the Gypsies tried to move, vigilantes have prevented them from settling down.

© 2007 UPI

Slovenia Moves Gypsies To Military Camp

Slovenia's government has moved a Gypsy family to a military base outside Ljubljana amid villagers' threats against them, media said Monday.

The 31-member Strojan family, including 14 children, was moved Sunday to a military garrison to spend winter months until the government finds a lasting solution, probably in spring, Belgrade's B92 radio reported.

Two police patrols were stationed on Christmas Day along the only road leading to the fenced Roje military base.

On Slovenia's Web sites villagers posted threats of bombs to forcibly move the Gypsy family out of the military base before March, the radio report said.

On Thursday, local authorities demolished five small cabins on land owned by the Strojans at the village of Ambrus, east of Ljubljana.

The Gypsy family was moved from Ambrus late in October when local villagers threatened to kill them.

Every time the Strojans have tried to move in past months, vigilantes have prevented them from settling down.

© 2006 UPI

Slovene villagers turn back Roma seeking to go home

International Herald Tribune - France
By Nicholas Wood / The New York Times.

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia: About 1,000 villagers have thwarted the return of a group of Roma to their homes in central Slovenia, a month after they first forced them to flee the area.

Fighting took place between riot police officers and local residents late Saturday afternoon when the Strojans, an extended family of 31 people, tried to return to Ambrus, a village 50 kilometers, or about 30 miles, southeast of Ljubljana, after four weeks in a refugee center.

The standoff prolonged a crisis that has dominated politics here for a month and has prompted criticism of Slovenia from the Council of Europe, the Continent's human rights watchdog, and from independent rights groups.

The Roma family, who are Slovene citizens, agreed to leave Ambrus on Oct. 28 when a mob surrounded their homes. Local residents demanded their removal after a fight between a man from Ambrus and a Slovene who was living with the Strojans, after which the villager fell unconscious.

The government said it was justified in moving the family to the refugee center, saying it acted to protect the Strojans. But human rights groups contend that ministers sanctioned the mobs' ouster of a minority from their homes.

The government had promised to resettle the group, but other communities have protested and stopped the government from sending the Strojans there.

The fighting Saturday began when the Roma group left an army barracks that had been their home since their expulsion from the village. Residents from Ambrus and surrounding areas set up a series of barricades across the approaching roads. The riot police were deployed and three people were injured in the scuffling that followed, witnesses said.

(MORE)

Slovenia PM defends Gypsies relocation

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Slovenia's prime minister said he plans to build a new settlement for a relocated Gypsy family once flaring tempers cool.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa told state-run Ljubljana Television the relocation of the 31 members, including 14 children, of the Gypsy family is the least-bad solution.

Wednesday, hundreds of villagers in eastern Slovenia protested the government's decision to move the Gypsy family close to their village, while in Ljubljana hundreds of rights groups supporters condemned the government for the "pogrom and deportation" of the Gypsies.

Vigilantes blocked approaches to the Ambrus area, in eastern Slovenia, from where the Gypsy family was moved some 30 miles to a former military barracks late in October.

The government organized the move to the barracks after villagers in Ambrus threatened to kill the Gypsies.

Jansa said once the tempers return to normal the government is to build a "legal settlement" for the Gypsy family.