A COURT case against employees of Slovakia’s secret service (SIS) under its former boss Ivan Lexa, has been thrown out of court and all penalties previously levied against those employees for illegal disposal of arms and ammunition have been rescinded.
The court had cleared Lexa of similar charges in 2004, the Sme daily reported.
The process that has lasted for 14 years ended in mid-June, just a week after the Bratislava Regional Court had ruled that former president Michal Kováč must apologise and indemnify Lexa for claims linking him to the abduction of his son to Austria.
The illegal disposal of armaments was brought up by Lexa's successor, Vladimír Mitro, in his report on the SIS in 1999.
According to Mitro, arms were deposited in iron waste collections – in one case for Sk25. There were also allegations of guns being illegally transported to unknown locations.
The Bratislava Regional Court ruled that the “subjective aspect of crime” had not been proven, meaning that the accused were not shown to be motivated by criminal intent, the Sme daily wrote.
27. Jun 2011 at 0:00 | Compiled by Spectator staff