THE INVESTIGATION into the murder of Robert Remiáš has gone on for a decade, yet those responsible still remain at large. Police said the investigation would be wrapped up by the end of May, but that deadline passed without a completed case file.
"Based on a prosecutor's order, the lead investigator has had to repeat some hearings, and new facts were uncovered. Therefore, several people have to provide further testimony," police spokesman Martin Korch told the Hospodárske noviny daily.
Remiáš was killed in an unexplained car explosion in April 1996. The Slovak Information Service (SIS) soon emerged as a suspect, as Remiáš was a go-between to Oskar Fegyveres, a key witness in the 1995 kidnapping case of Michal Kováč Jr, the former president's son. However, a few years into the case, then acting-president Vladimír Mečiar issued amnesties that thwarted the investigation.
According to the police, former SIS director Ivan Lexa ordered Remiáš's murder from former Bratislava underworld boss Michal Sýkora, who allegedly received Sk2 million to commit the act. Sýkora was also later murdered.
Lexa's lawyers reject any such allegations. The case has been complicated due to the fact that most of the witnesses are dead.
- Martina Jurinová
