Bratislava Regional Court Rejects Czech Ex-PM Complaint in StB Files Case

Bratislava, June 14 (TASR) – The Bratislava Regional Court on Tuesday rejected Czech ex-premier Andrej Babis’s complaint against the Slovak Nation’s Memory Institute (UPN) in a case concerning his registration in files of the erstwhile communist secret service the StB as its agent.

The trial was held in Babis’s absence. “The court stated that the defendant, UPN, has no capacity to be a passively materially eligible party to legal proceedings, but that it should be the Slovak Republic represented by the Interior Ministry,” said the court’s spokesman Pavol Adamciak. The verdict will become valid as soon it is delivered to the parties to the action.

The case was returned to the regional court after the Constitutional Court in November 2018 overruled the verdicts issued by the regional court and by the Supreme Court.

Babis, who was recorded in the files as an agent under the code name ‘Bures’, claims that he never co-operated with the communist secret service and his registration had no justification. He filed a suit against the Nation’s Memory Institute (UPN) in Slovakia, which published a copy of the files, back in 2012.

Slovak courts have dealt with Babis’s case several times since then. Last year, the Bratislava Regional Court dropped Babis’s petition and the Supreme Court later rejected his appeal.