Court accuses Ministry of rights violation

The Senate of Slovakia's Constitutional Court on September 4 ruled that the Foreign Ministry's inactivity earlier this year in the Michal Kováč Jr. case constituted a violation of his right to free entrance to Slovak territory, Národná obroda reported. The day after the decision, Constitutional Court judge Ján Drgonec said that as a state organ, the Foreign Ministry "should have fulfilled the state's obligation to secure the protection of a citizen's constitutionally guaranteed rights." The court was referring to Kováč Jr.'s request after his kidnapping last year that the Foreign Ministry ask for his extradition from Austria. Kováč Jr. on September 5 announced he will sue the state for damages.