Human Rights Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek told the press on Tuesday that the Strojans, the Roma family in the centre of a weeks' long controversy, had been under covert police surveillance, which he believes was illegal.

According to Hanzek, the Strojans were subject to detailed covert police surveillance during their two-month stay in the town of Postojna.

An examination of police archives in Postojna showed the police monitored not just the family but everyone who came to visit them, including journalists.

Hanzek said he had already written to State Prosecutor General Barbara Brezigar, urging her to assess whether the police acted illegally.

"We have discovered illegal police activities", Hanzek said in Ljubljana and added that he did not believe the Postojna police authorities took the decision to survey the Strojans themselves, because the archives also mention instructions for police from other cities.

"This indicates that [covert monitoring] was not thought out by the Postojna police. The instructions came from at least as high as the General Police Directorate. Because the instructions also mention the government, I believe that the cabinet and the minister are also involved," Hanzek said.

The Strojan family became the centre of media attention after a person living with them, though not a Roma himself, seriously injured a villager from the nearby village of Ambrus.

The events escalated into a stand-off between the Roma and the villagers, causing Interior Minister Dragutin Mate to broker a deal under which the Roma were temporarily relocated to Postojna in late October.

Following numerous attempts at finding a suitable location, the around 30-strong family was on 24 December moved to a Defence Ministry logistics centre in Roje near Ljubljana. The Roma will spend the winter there.