László Miklós (source: TASR)
The investigator of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) proposed to stop criminal prosecution of two former environment ministers László Miklós (the Party of Hungarian Community) and Jaroslav Izák (the Slovak National Party).
The reason is that their actions are not classified as a crime, so there is no reason to continue in the prosecution, the SITA newswire reported.
The investigation file has already been submitted to the supervising prosecutor of the district prosecutor’s office in Poprad (Prešov Region). The prosecutor will now read the document, which includes several expert opinions. The plan is to complete the matter by the end of May, spokesperson for the regional prosecutor’s office in Prešov Marián Spišák confirmed for SITA.
Miklós and Izák were accused in 2012 of threatening and damaging the environment, while the latter also faced charges of marring the tasks of a public official. The charges followed their decision not to allow logging in Tichá and Kôprová valleys in the High Tatras after the 2004 wind calamity. The wood in the affected area with the highest-level protection was then damaged by the bark beetle.
Both ministers opposed the logging, picking the more ecological approach, SITA wrote.
Also former environment minister Peter Žiga (Smer) supported their decision in 2012, saying they followed the law. He described the charges as “a bit strange”, according to SITA.
