No Decision Yet on Slovenia Accepting Guantanamo Detainees
The US embassy Wednesday said the reports were "completely false" while the ministry said the government had not adopted any decisions to that effect.
The rebuttal comes after news portal Siol.net reported Wednesday that two detainees from Guantanamo, ethnic Uyghurs from China, would arrive in Slovenia shortly.
"This is absolutely not true," Interior Minister Vinko Gorenak said in response to the report. "This government has never discussed the issue whatsoever", the minister said ahead of the session of the parliamentary Home Affairs Committee.
In 2011 the previous parliament adopted government amendments to the foreigners act allowing Slovenia to accept detainees from Guantanamo.
The scheme is part of the US administration's efforts to close Guantanamo and the issue has been the subject of talks with US officials.
The US Embassy's public affairs officer, Christopher Wurst, said today that the issue had been discussed "with a number of our friends and allies, including Slovenia."
"While there are ongoing conversations between our countries on the issue and, while we wish they were true, recent reports ... are completely false," he said.