Blaž Zgaga

Blaž Zgaga, Slovenia, is a freelance investigative journalist and co-author of the best-selling trilogy “In the Name of the State,” which explores arms smuggling in the Balkans during the conflicts of the 1990s.

He is an expert in arms trafficking, national security and defense, and has worked for Slovenia’s main daily newspapers Delo and Večer. His articles have appeared also in The Guardian, The Observer, USA Today, Jane’s Defence Weekly and Jane’s Intelligence Review.

In 2000 he revealed clandestine US DIA operation in Balkans and was prosecuted for – and later cleared of – charges of revealing military secrets. He was threatened with the maximum penalty of five years in prison. He co-initiated a journalist's petition against censorship in Slovenia in 2007, which was signed by 571 journalists, representing one quarter of all professional journalists in the country.

In a collaboration with Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund, they revealed massive corruption in the Patria arms deal in 2008. In consequent criminal investigations in Finland, Austria and Slovenia, 17 people were indicted, including then Slovene Prime Minister Janez Janša.

With co-author Matej Šurc he received the CEI/SEEMO Special Diploma for Investigative Journalism for the first book of the trilogy “In the Name of the State” in 2011 and the CEI/SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism in 2012 for whole trilogy.

He is co-founder of the Center for Investigative Journalism in Slovenia. He graduated in sociology at University of Ljubljana.