Ljubljana, 6 August (STA) - The Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Basic Freedoms, featuring supporters of Democrats (SDS) leader Janez Janša, met Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer on Tuesday to discuss Janša's appeal against his two-year prison sentence in the Patria bribery case, which is being deliberated on by the Supreme Court.

Meeting representatives of the Committee 2014, which demands Janša's immediate release pending the final decision on the first-instance verdict, Nussdorfer said that while no initiative came personally from Janša, the Ombudsman's Office published on its website a call to the court to "rule on the matter without undue delay".

The human rights ombudsman opted for such a call because "this is a very sensitive case and because there have been several legal opinions opposing the sentencing of Janša".

Nussdorfer, a former state prosecutor, said that the Ombudsman's Office should not interfere in criminal proceedings nor decide who is guilty and who is not. It can however assess whether a proceedings is being conducted with undue delay or not, she added.

Committee president Damir Črnčec assessed yesterday's meeting as fruitful, while reiterating his criticism of the Supreme Court. "Although it had guaranteed that Janša's appeal will be treated as a priority, this has not been the case."

According to Črnčec, the court does not need to go through all the 20,000 pages of documents, but only examine whether the case contains violations of human rights. Everything is clear from the dissenting opinions of three Constitutional Court judges, he added.