A prosecutor at the General Prosecutor’s Office, Jaroslav Kozolka, was an agent of the communist-era military counter-intelligence service, the Sme daily reported on May 23, citing information from the archives of the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. Kozolka himself now deals with sensitive cases involving military intelligence but also with civil cases like that of Hedviga Žáková-Malinová. He is reported to have reviewed the recently revealed case of alleged corruption at the Military Intelligence Service (VSS), but to have taken no action.
Kozolka has received a National Security Authority (NBÚ) security clearance, Sme reported, despite the law clearly stating that former employees of repressive arms of the communist state should not be granted such privileges. It is a mystery how Kozolka obtained a security clearance given his past, Sme wrote, while adding that the NBÚ is barred by law from commenting on the clearances it grants.
Meanwhile, the Nation's Memory Institute (ÚPN) in Slovakia published a list of agents of the Communist-era ŠtB secret police who operated in central Slovakia between 1966 and 1974.
ÚPN head Ondrej Krajňák said, as quoted by Sme, that the ŠtB agents registered, monitored, questioned and persecuted citizens who were considered enemies of the regime – which in effect included fans of free-camping known as “tramps”, as well as Catholic priests and church-goers, and members of other religious groups.
Head of the documentation section at the ÚPN Ľubomír Morbacher said that the agents were paid higher salaries than ordinary manual workers. They also enjoyed many advantages, giving them opportunity to cover up the criminal activities of their colleagues and seize the property of citizens who fled the country, Morbacher added.
The ÚPN published the names of 504 members of employees of branches of the ŠtB Administration of the Regional Administration of ZNB (The National Security Corps) in Banská Bystrica who voluntarily and actively participated in the “fight against the domestic and foreign enemy”.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
