Berglund and YLE, who first implicated Jansa in the Patria bribery scandal, will have to pay EUR 15,000 and one of the guests on the September 2008 YLE show "The Truth About Patria", former police commissioner Bojan Potocnik, has been ordered to pay EUR 6,500.

The court ordered Berglund to retract, on Finnish and Slovenian TV and in a Slovenian newspaper, his statement that Jansa is the "J" mentioned in Patria documents, and that Patria had bribed the then Slovenian prime minister.

In the same media Potocnik must retract his statement that Jansa had hindered a police investigation of the contentious purchase of 8-wheeled armoured personnel carriers from Finnish contractor Patria.

Another defendant in the suit, director of defence contractor Sistemska tehnika Milan Svajger, was meanwhile left off the hook.

However, Jansa will have to cover the costs of two of the defendants, Potocnik and Svajger, in the total amount of over EUR 12,000.

Two defence attorneys confirmed that they have received the verdict, but the attorney for Potocnik said he would lodge an appeal.

Potocnik's attorney Uros Pogacnik said the court had not heard anyone but Jansa, which he believes constitutes a violation of procedure. He expects the Higher Court to annul the verdict.

Andrej Kirm, who represents Berglund and YLE, also said that an appeal was very likely, mainly because the Finnish journalist had not been heard by the court.

Kirm has outlined the verdict to Berglund and the Finnish broadcaster, who are according to him "mostly satisfied" with the decision.

The verdict has confirmed that Berglund, as a journalist, acted with due care, and that the only problem was that he had spoken about bribery unconditionally, failing to take into account the presumption of innocence.

The suit is just one of many court procedures in relation to allegations that Patria bribed Slovenian officials to win a EUR 278m defence deal.

Jansa is one of five defendants standing trial in Slovenia on charges of bribery and complicity to bribery, whereas court proceedings will shortly start in Finland and Austria.