Milan Kučan

A January 1990 statement by Kučan that Slovenian secession was not his 'heartfelt choice' became an argument used for decades by opponents to challenge his role in independence. The remark continues to be used in political campaigns and debates about historical memory.

State of the evidence

Documented

In 2016, the VSO association lodged a complaint against Kučan, president of Slovenia's collective presidency in 1990, alleging high treason and sabotage for not preventing the transfer of Territorial Defence weapons to the JNA sufficiently quickly.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Accused

After leaving the presidency, Kučan founded Forum 21, an association bringing together numerous economic, cultural and political figures. Its membership prompted allegations of an 'old boys network' and informal influence over politics, business and elections.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Kučan opposed proposals for lustration targeting former officials of the communist regime, while proposing a parliamentary declaration condemning post-war mass executions. His opponents considered lustration necessary to break with the former regime's structures.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

In 1995, the parliamentary commission examining arrests, convictions and enforcement of sentences in the 1988 JBTZ affair heard Milan Kučan first as a witness and then as a 'preiskovanec', meaning a person under investigation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Kučan remained associated with Slovenia's debate on arms transfers and sales to Croatian and Bosnian forces in the early 1990s. He acknowledged that the presidency had authorised limited arms assistance, while maintaining that later sales or transit operations escaped his control and needed investigation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility