The trial sparked great uproar in Slovenia, and was an important event for the organization and development of the liberal democratic opposition in the republic.
The magazine Mladina was taking advantage of this and became extremely popular in Slovenia, deliberately testing the borders of press freedom with news and satire breaking old taboos.
In 1987 it started more and more frequently attacking the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and its leadership, for instance labeling the defense minister, Branko Mamula, a "merchant of death" for selling arms to famine-stricken Ethiopia.
In 1988, Mladina got its hands on notes from a secret meeting of the central committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, detailing plans for arrest of journalists and dissidents in Slovenia.
In the event however, the JBTZ trial, as it became known from the initials of the accused (Janša, Borštner, Tasić, Zavrl), was a complete failure for the JNA, and only served to alienate the Slovenes from Yugoslavia.
The opposition, organized in the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, was received by Janez Stanovnik, the communist president of Slovenia, who publicly expressed sympathy for their cause.
On 31 May 2013, a plaque commemorating the 25th anniversary of the event was unveiled on the building where the military court was held, in a ceremony attended by Janša, Tasić, and Zavrl.