LJUBLJANA, (Reuters) – The Slovenian Constitutional Court said yesterday it had banned the city of Ljubljana from naming a road after Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito because his name was a symbol of the communist regime that violated human rights.
“The name of Tito does not only symbolise liberation of Slovenia from the fascist occupation in World War Two … but is also a symbol of the totalitarian communist regime which was marked by vast and rough violations of human rights and basic freedoms,” the court said.
Ljubljana, ruled by centre-left mayor Zoran Jankovic, named the road in the capital in 2009, saying Tito was an important historical figure. The conservative New Slovenia party asked the Constitutional Court to overturn the move, saying Tito’s regime had violated human rights.
City authorities gave no immediate comment after the court’s ruling yesterday.
Tito was leader of the former Yugoslavia from 1945 until his death in 1980 and many roads were named after him in Slovenia before it declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Most were renamed after independence.
