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.