Communist secret service (ŠtB) files that show that Juraj Široký, president of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association and supporter of the ruling Smer party, worked as an ŠtB agent from 1979 until the fall of communism in 1989. He worked at the Czechoslovak embassy in Washington D.C. from 1985 to 1990.
The Nation’s Memory Institute has published notarised copies of Široký’s file that detail his work with the intelligence service. According to the Sme daily, Široký indirectly confirmed the reports on June 26 by saying “This is in the distant and closed past for me.”
Marián Gula of the Nation’s Memory Institute was quoted in Sme saying that ŠtB agents in countries like the US had to be 100 percent reliable. “These people gathered information from what were considered to be enemy countries,” said Gula.
Široký wanted to continue working in the secret service after the fall of communism but the Czechoslovak Interior Minister Ján Langoš refused his application.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
