Despite receiving a total of 319 applications for official pardons, President Ivan Gašparovič has used his constitutional power to grant pardon only once this year, for a motorist whose careless driving caused the death of his friend travelling in the passenger seat.
The driver was charged and sentenced to two years in prison for colliding with a truck due to excessive speed causing death, and was disqualified from driving for four years. In July the President pardoned the driver. “The convicted has repented that his colleague and close friend died, and realises that no amount of sorrow can restore the life of his friend”, reports the website of the President.
Gavin Shoebridge
