Barbara Brezigar (born 1 December 1953) is a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n lawyer and politician. She currently serves as Secretary General at the Ministry of the Interior of Slovenia. She was born in a middle-class family in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

as Barbara Gregorin. Her uncle on her mother's side was the famous Slovene literary critic, essayist and theatre director Bojan Štih. After finishing the

Bežigrad Grammar School Bežigrad Grammar School or Bežigrad Gymnasium () is a selective coeducational state secondary school. It is named after the Bežigrad district in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where it is located. For a number of years it has been the school with the h ...

, she enrolled at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

where she studied law. In 1993, she became the head of the section for economic and business crimes in the Slovenian public prosecution. In 1996, the Prosecutor General Anton Drobnič appointed her as head of a special group of prosecutors for corporate and

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

. In 1997, she became a member of a Council of Experts of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

on money laundry. In 1999, she ran as a candidate for Prosecutor General of Slovenia, but the government led by

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (20 ...

appointed

Zdenka Cerar Zdenka Prusnik-Cerar (7 September 1941 – 28 August 2013) was a Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, ...

instead. The same year, Brezigar stepped down as head of the Special Group of prosecutors in disagreement with the newly appointed Prosecutor General. In June 2000, Brezigar was appointed Minister of Justice in the short-lived

centre right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalism. Conservative and l ...

government of

Andrej Bajuk Andrej Bajuk, also known in Spanish as Andrés Bajuk (18 October 1943 – 16 August 2011) was a Slovene politician and economist. He served briefly as Prime Minister of Slovenia in the year 2000, and was Minister of Finance in the centre-righ ...

. The September of the same year, she unsuccessfully ran for the

Slovenian National Assembly The National Assembly (, or ; short form ''državni zbor'') is the general representative body of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia and the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, it is the major part of the distinctively incomple ...

on the list of the

Slovenian Democratic Party The Slovenian Democratic Party (, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (, SDSS), is a conservative parliamentary party; it is also one of the largest parties in Slovenia, with approximately 30,000 reported members in 2013. It ...

. In the 2002 Slovenian presidential election, she ran for

President of Slovenia The president of Slovenia, officially the president of the Republic of Slovenia (), is the head of state of Slovenia. The office was established on 23 December 1991 when the National Assembly (Slovenia), National Assembly passed a new ...

with the support of the Slovenian Democratic Party and

New Slovenia New Slovenia – Christian Democrats (, NSi) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Slovenia. Since 2018, it is led by Matej Tonin. The party was formed on 4 August 2000 following a split in the unified Slovenian People ...

. She was defeated in the run-off elections by

. In 2004, she was among the co-founders of the

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

civic platform Rally for the Republic (). In 2005 she was appointed State Prosecutor General by the centre right government of

Janez Janša Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), better known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2022. Since ...

. During the centre-left government of

Borut Pahor Borut Pahor (; born 2 November 1963) is a Slovenian politician who served as President of Slovenia from 2012 to 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Slovenia from 2008 to 2012. A longtime member and former president of the Social D ...

, she entered in conflict with the Minister of Justice

Aleš Zalar Aleš is a Czech and Slovenian name, appearing both as a male given name and a surname (Czech feminine: Alešová). It is a pet form of the names Alexej, Alexander, Alexius, etc. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Aleš Bárta (b ...

on the issue of interference of the ministry into the matters of the persecution. In 2011, she was replaced by Zvonko Fišer. In March 2012, she was appointed State Secretary at the Minister of Interior by the centre-right government of Janez Janša. She is married and has two children. She lives in Ljubljana.

References

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brezigar, Barbara 1953 births Lawyers from Ljubljana University of Ljubljana alumni Women government ministers of Slovenia Living people Justice ministers of Slovenia Politicians from Ljubljana 20th-century Slovenian lawyers Slovenian women lawyers 20th-century women lawyers