Vladimir Meciar to Face Prosecution Over his 1998 Amnesties Again

Bratislava, January 30 (TASR) – A Bratislava Police Corps Regional Directorate investigator has resumed criminal prosecution of former prime minister Vladimir Meciar (1993-98) over the misuse of a public official’s powers in the case of his 1998 amnesties, Bratislava police spokesperson Lucia Mihalikova confirmed to TASR on Thursday.

It was TV Markiza that broke the news first on its Wednesday (January 29) evening news show that the criminal prosecution over the issuing of an amnesty on the kidnapping of former president’s son Michal Kovac Jr. had been re-initiated already in December 2019.
“More detailed information cannot be provided on the case at this moment,” stated Mihalikova, adding that the investigation is still ongoing.

The suspicion of the misuse of a public official’s powers is rooted in the issuing of amnesties by Vladimir Meciar on the 1995 kidnapping of Michal Kovac Jr. Once the amnesties were declared null and void about two decades later, the police launched an investigation into the kidnapping in July 2017, but it was subsequently terminated in August due to the statute of limitations.

However, the investigation was resumed in October 2017, only to be stopped again by a Bratislava Police Corps Directorate investigator on July 24, 2019.

This didn’t sit well with the Prosecutor-General’s Office, however, which perused the investigation file and instructed the Bratislava Regional Police Directorate to re-launch the criminal prosecution again and it has resumed in December 2019.