President Kiska Expects Gaspar Will Be Ousted in Coming Days

Strbske Pleso, April 5 (TASR) – I expect that Police Corps president Tibor Gaspar will be ousted in the coming days, President Andrej Kiska said after meeting with Czech President Milos Zeman in Strbske Pleso (Presov region) on Thursday.

“When appointing the new Government and when talking to the interior minister, I said that the exchange of key people in the police, including of course the Police Corps president, Mr. Gaspar, is a crucial issue for us to be able to start rebuilding people’s trust in the police. The Government is facing a challenging task, but we don’t have the slightest chance of mending this trust if we aren’t able to carry out in the coming days this extremely important thing to calm the situation and gain confidence, namely the resignation of the Police Corps president, Mr. Gaspar,” Kiska said in commenting on the announced street protests for Thursday, in which people will be demanding the resignation of Police Corps president Tibor Gaspar.

Representatives of the ‘For a Decent Slovakia’ initiative, who are continuing the public rallies on Thursday, are calling for Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar to be ousted, clear system changes in the police inspection and the police leadership to be depoliticised.

Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) is saddened that further public protests for Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar’s ouster will be held. According to Pellegrini, this question of personnel, as well as other police-related issues, falls fully under the purview of new Interior Minister Tomas Drucker (a Smer-SD nominee), who enjoys the prime minister’s full confidence and has been given “carte blanche”.