Open and protect the OZNA, UDBA, SDB, KOS and all successor archives
The Issue
Ime mi je Sara Stepanjan. Moj oče, Agop Stepanjan, je bil glasbenik armenskega rodu, bolgarski in jugoslovanski državljan, ki je živel v Sloveniji in imel to državo zelo rad. Leta 1984 so njemu in osmim drugim sodili na tajnem vojaškem sojenju v Ljubljani, ki ga je iz političnih razlogov odredil jugoslovanski komunistični režim – sojenje brez vednosti javnosti, brez pravih dokazov, brez pravice zagovornikov.
Jugoslovanska tajna služba UDBA in vojaška protiobveščevalna služba KOS sta iskali ljudi, ki bi jih lahko lažno označili za bolgarske vohune. Našli sta jih predvsem med umetniki in glasbeniki, ki so živeli v Jugoslaviji, ter med Jugoslovani, ki so se z njimi prijateljili.
Mojega očeta so obsodili na 9 let zapora. Rekli so, da je vohun. Terorist. V zapor so dvakrat dali tudi mojo mamo – brez obtožnice, brez sojenja, le zasliševanja, dokler ne bi priznala nečesa, česar nikoli ni storila. Doma so čakali trije otroci.
To ni bilo leta 1944. To je bilo leta 1984. Operacijo so po neposrednem ukazu Tita začeli načrtovati že leta 1979 – ko je bil še živ in na oblasti. Pet let načrtovanja. Nato aretacije. Nato tajno sojenje. To je bilo eno zadnjih velikih mednarodnih političnih sojenj jugoslovanskega režima – in eno njegovih zadnjih.
Očeta so selili po različnih jugoslovanskih zaporih v Srbiji in Sloveniji. Formalno je bil rehabilitiran na silvestrovo leta 2002 in umrl 19 dni kasneje, za posledicami tega, kar so mu storili. Pravice ni nikoli dočakal. Videl je le list papirja, na katerem je pisalo, da je nedolžen.
Leta 2014 sva z mamo odpotovali v Beograd, da bi si arhive ogledali sami. Po letih prošenj in birokratskega molka so naju končno spustili noter. Ves čas je nad nama stražil oborožen vojak. Bali sva se, da bodo zaprli tudi naju. Pokazali so nama skoraj nič. Kar sva videli, je bilo ime tajne operacije, ki je uničila najino družino.
Poimenovali so jo »Tenis«.
To je vse, kar sta nama dala. Kodno ime. Brez spisov, brez dokumentov, brez pojasnila. Le dokaz, da nekaj tam je, in da se je nekdo odločil, da tega ne smeva videti.
To ni le naša zgodba. Od leta 1944 do razpada Jugoslavije leta 1991 so OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vse njihove pravne naslednice desetletja izvajale politično preganjanje, prirejena sojenja, mučenje in atentate po vsej Jugoslaviji. Milijoni družin po Sloveniji, Hrvaški, Srbiji, Severni Makedoniji in preostali nekdanji Jugoslaviji si zastavljajo isto vprašanje: kaj so nam storili in kdo. Odgovor je zaklenjen v Beogradu – in v arhivih vseh naslednic nekdanje Jugoslavije.
Evropski parlament je že pozval k odprtju teh arhivov. Njegovo poročilo o pristopu Srbije k EU iz leta 2025 izrecno zahteva dostop do spisov UDBA in KOS ter njihovo vrnitev pristojnim državam. Do sedaj se ni zgodilo nič.
Srbija si želi pridružitve Evropski uniji. Toda članstvo v EU prinaša tudi obveznosti, ena od njih pa je soočenje z resnico o preteklosti.
Spoštljivo pozivamo Odbor za peticije Evropskega parlamenta, naj pristojne institucije EU in Republiko Srbijo pozove k naslednjim korakom:
Takojšen mednarodni nadzor: Arhive OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vseh njihovih pravnih naslednic je treba nemudoma postaviti pod mednarodni nadzor, da se prepreči uničenje ali spreminjanje dokumentov do njihovega popolnega odprtja.
Poln dostop za žrtve: Vsem žrtvam in njihovim družinam v vseh nekdanjih jugoslovanskih republikah je treba zagotoviti poln in brezpogojen dostop do osebnih spisov – v vsaki naslednici, brez pogojev, taks ali oboroženega nadzora.
Pogojenost pristopa: Odprtje arhivov OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vseh naslednic ter sprejem celovitega zakona o rehabilitaciji žrtev morata postati formalen in zavezujoč pogoj za pristop Srbije k EU, kar naj Evropska komisija preveri pred pristopom – v skladu s pozivi Parlamenta v poročilih A10-0072/2025 o Srbiji in A10-0075/2025 o Kosovu, ki oba pozivata k odprtju nekdanjih jugoslovanskih arhivov v celotni regiji.
Formalno priznanje in pravična zadostitev: Trpljenje vseh žrtev OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vseh njihovih pravnih naslednic od leta 1944 do razpada Jugoslavije leta 1991, katerih primeri do danes ostajajo nerešeni, je treba formalno priznati – vključno s polno pravno rehabilitacijo, dostopom do osebnih spisov in uradnim opravičilom države – v skladu s standardi, ki so jih po letu 1989 vzpostavile Nemčija, Češka, Poljska in Madžarska. Enako morajo storiti vse naslednice nekdanje Jugoslavije.
Ne prosimo za maščevanje. Prosimo za resnico. Ljudje, ki so zgradili ta režim, so mrtvi ali umirajo. Arhivi niso. So zadnja priča. Zaščitite jih zdaj, preden izginejo tudi oni. Podpišite to peticijo. Delite jo. Bodite glas vseh družin, ki so doživele isto, a nikoli niso mogle povedati svoje zgodbe. Mnoge od njih še vedno ne morejo.
Sara Stepanjan Hči Agopa Stepanjana, glasbenika in političnega zapornika, ter Cvete Stepanjan, politične zapornice. Oba nedolžna. Agop Stepanjan politično rehabilitiran: 31. december 2002
English version
My name is Sara Stepanjan. My father, Agop Stepanjan, was a musician of Armenian descent, a Bulgarian and Yugoslav citizen who lived in Slovenia and loved this country. In 1984, he and eight others were tried in a secret military trial in Ljubljana, ordered for political reasons by the Yugoslav regime, held without public knowledge, without real evidence, without justice. The Yugoslav secret service UDBA and military counterintelligence KOS had been looking for people to frame as Bulgarian spies. They found them mostly among Bulgarian artists and musicians living in Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslavs who befriended them.
My father was sentenced to 9 years in prison. They called him a spy. A terrorist. My mother was imprisoned too, no charges, no trial, just interrogations until she would confess to something she never did. Three children at home waiting.
This was not 1944. This was 1984. The operation was planned under direct order from Tito himself, beginning in 1979 — while he was still alive and in power. Five years of planning. Then the arrests. Then the secret trial. This was one of the last major international political trials of the Yugoslav regime — and one of its last.
He was transferred through multiple Yugoslav prisons, including prisons in Serbia. He was formally rehabilitated on New Year’s Eve 2002 and died 19 days later, from the consequences of what was done to him. He never saw justice. He only saw a piece of paper saying he was innocent.
In 2014, my mother and I traveled to Belgrade to access the archives ourselves. After years of requests and bureaucratic silence, we were finally allowed inside. An armed soldier stood guard over us the entire time. We were afraid they would lock us up too. They showed us almost nothing. What we did see was the name of the secret operation that destroyed our family.
They called it “Tenis.”
That is all they gave us. A codename. No files, no documents, no explanation. Just proof that something is there, and that someone has decided we are not allowed to see it.
This is not just our story. From 1944 until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all their legal successor organisations conducted decades of political persecution, fabricated trials, torture and assassinations across Yugoslavia. Millions of families across Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, and the rest of the former Yugoslavia are asking the same question: what was done to us, and by whom? The answer is locked in Belgrade — and in the archives of all successor states of the former Yugoslavia.
The European Parliament has already called for these archives to be opened. Its 2025 report on Serbia’s EU accession explicitly demanded access to UDBA and KOS files and their return to the respective governments. Nothing has happened.
Serbia wants to join the European Union. But EU membership comes with obligations, and one of them is confronting the truth about the past.
We respectfully requests that the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament urge the relevant EU institutions and the Republic of Serbia to take the following actions:
1. Immediate international oversight: The OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all their legal successor archives must be placed under immediate international oversight to prevent the destruction or alteration of documents pending full opening.
2. Full access for victims: Full and unconditional access to personal files must be granted to all victims and their families across all former Yugoslav republics — in every successor state, without conditions, fees, or armed supervision.
3. Accession conditionality: The opening of the OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all successor archives and the adoption of a comprehensive victims' rehabilitation law must be made a formal and binding condition of Serbia's EU accession, to be verified by the European Commission prior to accession — in line with Parliament's own calls in A10-0072/2025 on Serbia and A10-0075/2025 on Kosovo, both calling for the opening of the former Yugoslav archives across the region.
4. Formal recognition and just satisfaction: The suffering of all victims of OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all their legal successor organisations from 1944 until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, whose cases remain unresolved to this day, must be formally recognised — including full legal rehabilitation, access to personal files, and an official state apology — in line with the standards established after 1989 by Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and
Hungary. All successor states of the former Yugoslavia must do the same.
We’re not asking for revenge. We’re asking for the truth.
The people who built that regime are gone or dying. The archives are not. They are the last witnesses. Protect them now, before they disappear too.
Sign this petition. Share it. Be the voice of all the families who lived through the same thing but never got to tell their story. Many of them still can’t.
Sara Stepanjan
Daughter of Agop Stepanjan, musician and political prisoner, and Cveta Stepanjan, political prisoner. Both innocent.
Agop Stepanjan politically rehabilitated: 31 December 2002
1,630
The Issue
Ime mi je Sara Stepanjan. Moj oče, Agop Stepanjan, je bil glasbenik armenskega rodu, bolgarski in jugoslovanski državljan, ki je živel v Sloveniji in imel to državo zelo rad. Leta 1984 so njemu in osmim drugim sodili na tajnem vojaškem sojenju v Ljubljani, ki ga je iz političnih razlogov odredil jugoslovanski komunistični režim – sojenje brez vednosti javnosti, brez pravih dokazov, brez pravice zagovornikov.
Jugoslovanska tajna služba UDBA in vojaška protiobveščevalna služba KOS sta iskali ljudi, ki bi jih lahko lažno označili za bolgarske vohune. Našli sta jih predvsem med umetniki in glasbeniki, ki so živeli v Jugoslaviji, ter med Jugoslovani, ki so se z njimi prijateljili.
Mojega očeta so obsodili na 9 let zapora. Rekli so, da je vohun. Terorist. V zapor so dvakrat dali tudi mojo mamo – brez obtožnice, brez sojenja, le zasliševanja, dokler ne bi priznala nečesa, česar nikoli ni storila. Doma so čakali trije otroci.
To ni bilo leta 1944. To je bilo leta 1984. Operacijo so po neposrednem ukazu Tita začeli načrtovati že leta 1979 – ko je bil še živ in na oblasti. Pet let načrtovanja. Nato aretacije. Nato tajno sojenje. To je bilo eno zadnjih velikih mednarodnih političnih sojenj jugoslovanskega režima – in eno njegovih zadnjih.
Očeta so selili po različnih jugoslovanskih zaporih v Srbiji in Sloveniji. Formalno je bil rehabilitiran na silvestrovo leta 2002 in umrl 19 dni kasneje, za posledicami tega, kar so mu storili. Pravice ni nikoli dočakal. Videl je le list papirja, na katerem je pisalo, da je nedolžen.
Leta 2014 sva z mamo odpotovali v Beograd, da bi si arhive ogledali sami. Po letih prošenj in birokratskega molka so naju končno spustili noter. Ves čas je nad nama stražil oborožen vojak. Bali sva se, da bodo zaprli tudi naju. Pokazali so nama skoraj nič. Kar sva videli, je bilo ime tajne operacije, ki je uničila najino družino.
Poimenovali so jo »Tenis«.
To je vse, kar sta nama dala. Kodno ime. Brez spisov, brez dokumentov, brez pojasnila. Le dokaz, da nekaj tam je, in da se je nekdo odločil, da tega ne smeva videti.
To ni le naša zgodba. Od leta 1944 do razpada Jugoslavije leta 1991 so OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vse njihove pravne naslednice desetletja izvajale politično preganjanje, prirejena sojenja, mučenje in atentate po vsej Jugoslaviji. Milijoni družin po Sloveniji, Hrvaški, Srbiji, Severni Makedoniji in preostali nekdanji Jugoslaviji si zastavljajo isto vprašanje: kaj so nam storili in kdo. Odgovor je zaklenjen v Beogradu – in v arhivih vseh naslednic nekdanje Jugoslavije.
Evropski parlament je že pozval k odprtju teh arhivov. Njegovo poročilo o pristopu Srbije k EU iz leta 2025 izrecno zahteva dostop do spisov UDBA in KOS ter njihovo vrnitev pristojnim državam. Do sedaj se ni zgodilo nič.
Srbija si želi pridružitve Evropski uniji. Toda članstvo v EU prinaša tudi obveznosti, ena od njih pa je soočenje z resnico o preteklosti.
Spoštljivo pozivamo Odbor za peticije Evropskega parlamenta, naj pristojne institucije EU in Republiko Srbijo pozove k naslednjim korakom:
Takojšen mednarodni nadzor: Arhive OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vseh njihovih pravnih naslednic je treba nemudoma postaviti pod mednarodni nadzor, da se prepreči uničenje ali spreminjanje dokumentov do njihovega popolnega odprtja.
Poln dostop za žrtve: Vsem žrtvam in njihovim družinam v vseh nekdanjih jugoslovanskih republikah je treba zagotoviti poln in brezpogojen dostop do osebnih spisov – v vsaki naslednici, brez pogojev, taks ali oboroženega nadzora.
Pogojenost pristopa: Odprtje arhivov OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vseh naslednic ter sprejem celovitega zakona o rehabilitaciji žrtev morata postati formalen in zavezujoč pogoj za pristop Srbije k EU, kar naj Evropska komisija preveri pred pristopom – v skladu s pozivi Parlamenta v poročilih A10-0072/2025 o Srbiji in A10-0075/2025 o Kosovu, ki oba pozivata k odprtju nekdanjih jugoslovanskih arhivov v celotni regiji.
Formalno priznanje in pravična zadostitev: Trpljenje vseh žrtev OZNA, UDBA, KOS in vseh njihovih pravnih naslednic od leta 1944 do razpada Jugoslavije leta 1991, katerih primeri do danes ostajajo nerešeni, je treba formalno priznati – vključno s polno pravno rehabilitacijo, dostopom do osebnih spisov in uradnim opravičilom države – v skladu s standardi, ki so jih po letu 1989 vzpostavile Nemčija, Češka, Poljska in Madžarska. Enako morajo storiti vse naslednice nekdanje Jugoslavije.
Ne prosimo za maščevanje. Prosimo za resnico. Ljudje, ki so zgradili ta režim, so mrtvi ali umirajo. Arhivi niso. So zadnja priča. Zaščitite jih zdaj, preden izginejo tudi oni. Podpišite to peticijo. Delite jo. Bodite glas vseh družin, ki so doživele isto, a nikoli niso mogle povedati svoje zgodbe. Mnoge od njih še vedno ne morejo.
Sara Stepanjan Hči Agopa Stepanjana, glasbenika in političnega zapornika, ter Cvete Stepanjan, politične zapornice. Oba nedolžna. Agop Stepanjan politično rehabilitiran: 31. december 2002
English version
My name is Sara Stepanjan. My father, Agop Stepanjan, was a musician of Armenian descent, a Bulgarian and Yugoslav citizen who lived in Slovenia and loved this country. In 1984, he and eight others were tried in a secret military trial in Ljubljana, ordered for political reasons by the Yugoslav regime, held without public knowledge, without real evidence, without justice. The Yugoslav secret service UDBA and military counterintelligence KOS had been looking for people to frame as Bulgarian spies. They found them mostly among Bulgarian artists and musicians living in Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslavs who befriended them.
My father was sentenced to 9 years in prison. They called him a spy. A terrorist. My mother was imprisoned too, no charges, no trial, just interrogations until she would confess to something she never did. Three children at home waiting.
This was not 1944. This was 1984. The operation was planned under direct order from Tito himself, beginning in 1979 — while he was still alive and in power. Five years of planning. Then the arrests. Then the secret trial. This was one of the last major international political trials of the Yugoslav regime — and one of its last.
He was transferred through multiple Yugoslav prisons, including prisons in Serbia. He was formally rehabilitated on New Year’s Eve 2002 and died 19 days later, from the consequences of what was done to him. He never saw justice. He only saw a piece of paper saying he was innocent.
In 2014, my mother and I traveled to Belgrade to access the archives ourselves. After years of requests and bureaucratic silence, we were finally allowed inside. An armed soldier stood guard over us the entire time. We were afraid they would lock us up too. They showed us almost nothing. What we did see was the name of the secret operation that destroyed our family.
They called it “Tenis.”
That is all they gave us. A codename. No files, no documents, no explanation. Just proof that something is there, and that someone has decided we are not allowed to see it.
This is not just our story. From 1944 until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all their legal successor organisations conducted decades of political persecution, fabricated trials, torture and assassinations across Yugoslavia. Millions of families across Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, and the rest of the former Yugoslavia are asking the same question: what was done to us, and by whom? The answer is locked in Belgrade — and in the archives of all successor states of the former Yugoslavia.
The European Parliament has already called for these archives to be opened. Its 2025 report on Serbia’s EU accession explicitly demanded access to UDBA and KOS files and their return to the respective governments. Nothing has happened.
Serbia wants to join the European Union. But EU membership comes with obligations, and one of them is confronting the truth about the past.
We respectfully requests that the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament urge the relevant EU institutions and the Republic of Serbia to take the following actions:
1. Immediate international oversight: The OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all their legal successor archives must be placed under immediate international oversight to prevent the destruction or alteration of documents pending full opening.
2. Full access for victims: Full and unconditional access to personal files must be granted to all victims and their families across all former Yugoslav republics — in every successor state, without conditions, fees, or armed supervision.
3. Accession conditionality: The opening of the OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all successor archives and the adoption of a comprehensive victims' rehabilitation law must be made a formal and binding condition of Serbia's EU accession, to be verified by the European Commission prior to accession — in line with Parliament's own calls in A10-0072/2025 on Serbia and A10-0075/2025 on Kosovo, both calling for the opening of the former Yugoslav archives across the region.
4. Formal recognition and just satisfaction: The suffering of all victims of OZNA, UDBA, KOS and all their legal successor organisations from 1944 until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, whose cases remain unresolved to this day, must be formally recognised — including full legal rehabilitation, access to personal files, and an official state apology — in line with the standards established after 1989 by Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and
Hungary. All successor states of the former Yugoslavia must do the same.
We’re not asking for revenge. We’re asking for the truth.
The people who built that regime are gone or dying. The archives are not. They are the last witnesses. Protect them now, before they disappear too.
Sign this petition. Share it. Be the voice of all the families who lived through the same thing but never got to tell their story. Many of them still can’t.
Sara Stepanjan
Daughter of Agop Stepanjan, musician and political prisoner, and Cveta Stepanjan, political prisoner. Both innocent.
Agop Stepanjan politically rehabilitated: 31 December 2002
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Petition created on June 7, 2026