Bugar: Votes Will Be Found If Court Says Amnesties Can Be Scrapped
Bratislava, January 3 (TASR) – The Most-Hid party has always supported the scrapping of the so-called Meciar’s amnesties and will also support this at its second reading in Parliament, said Most-Hid leader and Parliamentary Vice-chair Bela Bugar in an interview for TASR on Tuesday.
However, Bugar doesn’t intend to do the Opposition’s job in persuading his governing coalition partners to support the draft, which won’t make it through without their support.
“I’m still explaining to the Opposition that if it wants to achieve anything, it has to sit at a discussion table with those whose support it needs. Why should I do this instead of the Opposition?” said Bugar, adding that there is no power on earth that would make the coalition partners change their position in this case. “There is only one possibility. If the Constitutional Court provides an interpretation of the law stating that scrapping the amnesties is feasible, 90 and more votes will be found at that very moment,” said Bugar.
Bugar thinks that the 90 votes necessary for scrapping Meciar’s amnesties won’t be found as long as the legal position on the issue isn’t unified. “And it is the Constitutional Court that should state its position. It’s a normal solution to appeal to the Constitutional Court,” stated Bugar.
Parliament is due to made a definitive decision on the Opposition’s proposal to abrogate Meciar’s amnesties at its next session. A total of 90 votes is required for passing the legislation. Currently at its second reading, the motion has garnered the support of the Opposition and the governing Most-Hid party, but not Smer-SD and the Slovak National Party (SNS).
The amnesties issued in 1998 by then acting president Vladimir Meciar are linked to the 1995 kidnapping of former president Michal Kovac’s son abroad as well as to the issue of a thwarted referendum. The former administration of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS), then headed by Ivan Lexa, is suspected of carrying out the kidnapping. The case is also linked to the murder of former police investigator Robert Remias.
