The Slovene ministry stated that the Slovene nationals were forcibly arrested and recalled that competent Slovene institutions had launched pre-criminal proceedings against the persons who had done this, STA reported.
By making this decision the Slovene ministry actually dismissed a request by the Croatian Justice Ministry to hand the rulings of the Umag court to the Slovene nationals in line with a bilateral agreement on mutual legal assistance.
In the incident on the Plovanija border crossing, which happened about ten days before parliamentary elections in Slovenia, the Croatian police briefly detained 12 members of the Slovene People's Party (SLS), led by the party's deputy in parliament, Janez Podobnik. The party members were visiting Jozko Joras, a controversial local Slovene living in the village of Mlini in the Croatian municipality of Buje, who refuses to recognise Croatia's sovereignty in that area. The Slovenes crossed the border in the vicinity of the official border crossing and refused to identify themselves to the Croatian border police, claiming that they were on Slovenia's territory.