Tomaž Marušič was a Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

n lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

He was born in Gorizia

Gorizia

Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...

, Italy. His father, Franc Marušič was a renowned local physician and a staunch Slovene patriot and antifascist. During his childhood, the family moved to the suburb of Solkan

Solkan

Solkan is a suburb of the town of Nova Gorica in the Goriška region of western Slovenia, close to the border with Italy. Although it is nowadays completely integrated into Nova Gorica, with which it forms a single urban area, it has maintained the status of a separate urban settlement, due to its...

, which was included in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

 in 1947.

Marušič studied at the Nova Gorica Grammar School

Nova Gorica Grammar School

Nova Gorica Grammar School is a coeducational nondenominational state secondary general education school for students aged between 15 to 19. It is located in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. It is considered among the best secondary schools in Slovenia...

. He graduated from law at the University of Ljubljana

University of Ljubljana

The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...

 and worked as a lawyer in Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica ; 21,082 ; 31,000 ) is a town and a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy...

 and Koper. During the Slovenian Spring (1988–1990), he joined the newly formed Slovene People's Party. In 1993, he was elected by the City Council of Nova Gorica as the first non-Communist mayor of the town, but lost the elections the following year against Črtomir Špacapan of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia is a liberal political party in Slovenia. It is led by Katarina Kresal and is a member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party...

. From February 1997 until June 2000, Marušič served as Minister for Justice in the coalition government led by Janez Drnovšek

Janez Drnovšek

Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia . He was born in Celje, Slovenia, then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia...

.

He is the brother of the renowned historian Branko Marušič

Branko Marušič

Branko Marušič is a Slovenian historian.Born to an upper middle class Slovene family in Gorizia, Italy, he moved with the family to the Yugoslav side of the Yugoslav-Italian border in 1947, and has been living in Solkan since...

 and of the Landscape Architect Ivan Janez Marušič.