Janez Jan a (born 17 September 1958) is a Slovenian politician and president of the Slovenian Democratic Party. He was Minister of Defense of Slovenia during the Slovenian War of Independence (June-July 1991). Between November 2004 and November 2008, he served as the Prime Minister of Slovenia. Janez Jansa is the President of the ICD Initiative on "The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide". He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.Born as Ivan Jan a to a Roman Catholic working-class family of Grosuplje, he was called Janez (a version of the same name, known as John in English) since childhood. His father was a former member of the Slovenian Home Guard from Upper Carniola who had escaped Communist retaliation due to his young age. He graduated from the University of Ljubljana with a degree in defence studies in 1982, and became a trainee in the Defence Secretariate of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. In his younger years, he was a member of the League of Communists and one of the leaders of its youth wing. He became president of the Committee for Basic People's Defence and Social Self-Protection of the Al