Nation's Memory Institute Head Ondrej Krajnak Resigns from His Post
Bratislava, October 30 (TASR) – Nation’s Memory Institute (UPN) head Ondrej Krajnak held a news conference on Monday to announce that he’s resigning from his post as of November due to the coalition’s amendment to the law on UPN, which has significantly changed the way in which the institution is managed and curbed his powers.
Krajnak is concerned that purges might occur at UPN because the board of directors as a collective body has become its statutory authority and he doesn’t want to participate in this new system. He’s already handed in his notice as an employee, but he’ll remain on UPN’s board of directors until the end of its term. He wants to convene a meeting of the board as early as in early November, but it’s questionable whether UPN’s new chairman will be elected as soon as at this meeting.
“Efforts to change the law came at a time when UPN had gained respect not only at home, but also abroad. The amendment’s submitters in their explanatory report cite the desire for effective management of the institution among the reasons for the legislative change, but nobody will bear personal responsibility for potential damage caused while managing UPN,” stressed Krajnak.
He also pointed to the fact that according to the submitters, the legislative change was also made necessary by tense relations within UPN. “If this was actually among the motives for changing the legislation, the amendment has been personified, which contradicts the Constitution, as the law must be generally valid and cannot concern a particular case,” said Krajnak, adding that the reasons for adopting the amendment must have been much deeper.
According to Krajnak, the first of these is that UPN was fully engaged in prosecutions concerning former members of the communist-era intelligence service (StB). In addition, UPN has detailed and published the complete structure of the StB on Slovak territory dating back to 1966, called for increased pensions for political prisoners and has been constantly reminding everyone of the actions taken by criminal regimes, naming specific culprits at the same time. “These are the actual reasons why MPs of the governing coalition came up with the amendment,” he claimed.
