Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 09/06/2023
At a ceremony marking the anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Slovenia in Čebine, a flower pot started smouldering, according to Janez Štrucl, the head of the Klek Voluntary Fire Brigade.
Karin Planinšek, who has previously acted as a spokeswoman for the youth wing of the Democratic Party (SDS) in Kranj, and Zala Klopčič, vice-president of the SDS youth wing, talked about a 17 April ceremony in Čebinje marking the anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Slovenia on their 28 May Youtube videocast Na tekočem o jugonostalgiji (Current about Yugonostalgia). Planinšek said that the visitors “came with torches, as if they were performing a ceremony of some kind, whereupon they started a fire so that firefighters had to come and put it out.”
“This is not true,” Janez Štrucl, the head of the Klek Voluntary Fire Brigade who was in charge of fire safety at the event, told Razkrinkavanje.si. He explained that the participants of a hike to Čebinje had arrived at the venue and put torches into a flowerpot so that they finished burning. “The pot then caught on fire, I extinguished it myself, and nothing else happened.”
The Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief confirmed for Razkrinkavanje.si that the Klek Voluntary Fire Brigade had not reported a fire incident on 17 April.
Jožefa Kukovič, chairwoman of the Trbovlje Tourism Association, which organised the event along with the Klek Local Community, likewise confirmed there was no fire. She explained that the hike with torches to the venue is a traditional event and that there are always firefighters there for security.
The videocast was reported on by Nova24TV.si and demokracija.si, which labelled it as “the most politically correct webcast in Slovenia”. Two more portals, zadnjenovice.info and preberi.si, linked to the Nova24TV and Demokracija reports as well.
The videocast authors explained in response to our query that they are neither public officials nor journalists, they are merely commentators who analyse the work of journalists, who they say should be impartial. “In the first episode of our videocast we merely wanted to highlight that firefighters had to intervene at the Čebinje event, this is all that is relevant in this matter.”
The claim by Planinšek that participants of the Čebine ceremony started a fire which had to be put out is false according to the methodology employed by Razkrinkavanje.si
