President Rudolf Schuster is to be questioned by a state prosecutor early next year on charges he laid in July 2001 against a journalist for an allegedly defamatory article; the prosecutor is to decide whether the journalist should be arraigned. The case has attracted close interest from western observers, who see it as a freedom of speech issue. The Slovak parliament voted earlier this month to leave a law making it a crime to criticize top state representatives on the books.
Compiled by Tom Nicholson from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
