 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| Three cases that could be reopened after the "Slovak Watergate" |
| Bratislava, 08.06.2017 |
|
| Mečiar’s amnesties are void. Who might end up in jail?
The Constitutional Court ruled on May 31 that the blanket amnesties issued by former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar as acting president in 1997, covering the kidnapping of the president’s son and the thwarted referendum, are void.
As a result, several prosecution and court processes that have been on hold for almost 20 years will now be re-launched.
1. Lexa may face jail time
Former director of the intelligence service SIS, Ivan Lexa, is one of the 13 people charged with the kidnapping of Michal Kováč Jr in 1995. Many of the persons accused of the kidnapping were in high positions in SIS at that time. The Bratislava III District Court will deal with the case and decide if the case should be reopened, stopped, or whether an inquiry should be made with the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to determine if it is in line with EU rules, David Lindtner, the court chairman, told the Sme daily.
The court will also open another case, concerning the unlawful destruction of the vehicle that the SIS used to monitor Kovac Jr before the kidnapping. David Lindtner believes the scrapping of amnesties also concerns this case, he told Sme. In this case, Lexa is accused together with four other SIS agents. Lexa already announced he will turn to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, with a complaint that the prosecution against him is unlawful. His attorney Marek Para told the Denník N daily that his client was not going to avoid the process and actively defend himself.
Questions that he might possibly leave the country have arisen also because when he was first released in 2000, he left the country and remained in hiding in South Africa, despite the fact that there being criminal prosecution against him in several cases.
In 2002, Lexa was charged with the murder of Róbert Remiáš, under the allegations that the former spy chief had ordered the killing through Bratislava mob boss Miroslav Sýkora, who was in turn gunned down in front of a hotel in February 1997. In 2006, Special Prosecutor Dušan Kováčik withdrew the charges citing a lack of evidence.
The criminal prosecution in the case was re-opened last year, shortly before the 20th anniversary of the murder. Nobody has been charged yet.
odkaz na stránku
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Address : Euro-Brew Ltd., Hlboká 22, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
Tel. : +421 33 53 418 53, Fax : +421 33 53 418 52, E-mail : info@eurobrew.sk |
|
|
