The court argued that Janša had not used all legal remedies before petitioning the country's top court, the online edition of the weekly Reporter says on Tuesday.

In a 6:3 vote, the decision was taken at the session on 11 June, although the Constitutional Court judges also debated the appeal yesterday.

The decision means that Janša is due to start serving his two-year prison sentence this Friday.

The STA has not yet managed to reach Janša's lawyer Franci Matoz for comment, while the court explained that it would publish the decision on its website once it had received the advice of receipt from Matoz.

According to Reporter, a majority of the judges is of an opinion that Janša's human rights had not been violated to an extent which would require a Constitutional Court decision before all the other legal remedies have been used.

Reporter adds that since Janša has also appealed on a point of law at the Supreme Court (which he did on 9 June), he will be eventually able to appeal against a relevant Supreme Court decision at the Constitutional Court.

It is however not known when the Supreme Court could reach its decision in the case. The Ljubljana Local Court told the STA it is still processing the appeal, adding that the criminal procedure act does not determine the deadlines by when a case needs to be forwarded to the Supreme Court.

According to the magazine, voting in favour of Janša's appeal against the Patria guilty verdict were Mitja Deisinger, Ernest Petrič and Jan Zobec, who also wrote dissenting opinions.

Zobec said that accepting the petition would "boost confidence in the functioning of the rule of law and in state institutions, primarily the confidence in the protection of people against the arbitrary use of means of state repression against any individual".

He also said he could not overlook the fact that the appellant was the leader of the biggest opposition party, that a snap election would be held soon and that Janša starting to serve the two-year sentence, which was announced in a "flagrantly unfair procedure", would significantly affect the election result.

Former Constitutional Court president Petrič meanwhile warned against the irreparable consequences of Janša going to prison, as imprisonment is one of the biggest violations of a person's dignity and human rights, especially if it turns out later that the sentencing was unlawful.

Petrič believes that the 2013 verdict of the Ljubljana Local Court regarding the criminal act of "accepting an offer of a bribe", which was upheld by the Ljubljana Higher Court last April, is not based on sufficiently convincing evidence.

This is why Petrič does not exclude the possibility of Janša's appeal being found justified by the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

Deisinger said the decision rejecting Janša's appeal was illogical, arguing that the appeal met the conditions to be treated as a priority, according to Reporter.

Ex-military officer Tone Krkovič, who was convicted along with Janša in the Patria case, meanwhile confirmed that he received on Saturday the notice to report to the Dob prison on 4 July to start serving his 22-month sentence.

He said he would report to prison and would not seek postponement of the sentence or ask for an alternative form of serving his term.