Former SIS director Ivan Lexa (source: Sme archive)
One of the most controversial cases Slovakia has dealt with since it occurred in 1993 will be reviewed in Luxembourg.
The court trial with the people who stand accused of kidnapping the son of then President Michal Kováč will not begin in Slovakia before the Court of Justice of the EU handles the pre-trial questions. The senate of the Bratislava III District Court ruled on June 21, 2019 on the suspension of the proceedings and to wait for Luxembourg based on a request by the lawyers of Ivan Lexa, the Sme daily reported. Lexa, former director of the intelligence service SIS, is one of the accused in the case.
The abduction took place in 1995, and later Vladimír Mečiar issued blanket amnesties that prevented prosecution in the case. After numerous attempts, the Slovak parliament scrapped the amnesties in April 2017.
The file is about 20,000 pages long, according to Sme, and there are 13 accused in the case.
The Luxembourg court might issue a stance on the case instructing the Slovak courts whether they can proceed. Once such stance might be that the deeds were amnestied in Slovakia in the past and therefore there can be no prosecution now.
One more controversial case from the Mečiar era is also awaiting a stance from Luxembourg. Former interior minister Gustav Krajči stands accused of having marred a referendum in 1997. The Slovak courts were to deal with the case in 2018, but Krajči requested a stance from the Court of Justice of the EU, which has not been delivered yet.
"We are waiting for the motion to be accepted for further proceedings. Then, every member state will have to learn about the case and only then would they decide ," Krajči's lawyer Milan Križalkovič told Sme. If the Luxembourg court refuses to deal with the case, the Slovak courts will be able to take it up again.
