Former Slovak PM Vladimír Mečiar (source: SME)
Former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar is closer to criminal prosecution for the amnesties he granted as acting president in 1998, the Pravda daily reported on its website.
The amnesties, issued after the kidnapping of the son of then president Michal Kováč to Austria, were scrapped in the summer. The police first refused to launch criminal prosecution, explaining the matter had been time-limited. After the interference of the General Prosecutor’s Office they started acting again.
“The investigator for the criminal department of the regional police corps headquarters in Bratislava has launched a criminal prosecution for the crime of abusing the powers of a public official,” Lucia Mihalíková, spokesperson for the regional police crops headquarters in Bratislava, told Pravda.
The investigation of the case started in late July, based on the Constitutional Court ruling. It claimed that in 1998 Mečiar did not follow his duty of restraint and obviously abused the amnesties. However, the police postponed the case in early August, referring to a law valid at the time the amnesties were granted. It stipulated there was a 10-year limitation of time, which has been exceeded, Pravda reported.
After the General Prosecutor’s Office read the file, it said in October that the investigator’s decision had been issued too soon and ordered the regional prosecutor’s office to scrap the original decision and complete the gathering of evidence.
