On Thursday, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled that the double jeopardy prohibition does not stand in the way of issuing a European arrest warrant against individuals responsible for the kidnapping of Michal Kovac Jr. Based on this decision, courts can now take action and continue criminal prosecutions in the kidnapping case. Earlier Bratislava III District Court requested that the CJEU should issue a ruling on this matter.
The ruling by the CJEU in the case of the 1995 kidnapping of former president Michal Kovac's son is epochal, President Zuzana Caputova posted on a social network Thursday. "Finally, an opportunity has opened up for our courts to investigate thoroughly a case that has been polarising society for many long years and decide on the guilt or innocence of the defendants," wrote the president. Caputova believes that Vladimir Meciar's 1998 amnesties were a gross misuse of the law. "Civil society as well as many of our politicians attempted for years to have them annulled so that the responsibility of the Slovak Intelligence Service and other individuals for the kidnapping of President Michal Kovac's son could be investigated," she said.
According to Prime Minister Eduard Heger, Slovakia has advanced closer to justice in the case of the 1995 kidnapping of former president Michal Kovac's son, in which pardons were granted under a now-annulled 1998 amnesty issued by former premier Vladimir Meciar. "Our society deserves this, as does the legacy of the murdered Robert Remias," posted Heger. Robert Remias was the key witness in the kidnapping, whose murder was also pardoned by Meciar's amnesty.
Speaking at a briefing at the memorial to murdered key witness Robert Remias in Bratislava on Thursday, Peter Vacok, the investigator into the forcible abduction of the son of former president, said that he considers the CJEU ruling to be proof that justice in Slovakia was crushed at that time. Vacok is convinced that the perpetrators of the abduction will be punished, even though 21 years have passed since the incident. In addition to the former head of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS), Ivan Lexa, 12 other people are facing charges.
Finance Minister and leader of the OLaNO party Igor Matovic praised the struggle for justice of Anna Remiasova (now an MP for OLaNO), the mother of the aforementioned Robert Remias, and Environment Minister Jan Budaj (OLaNO). Budaj said that the ruling opened the door to justice, adding that the next step is in the hands of the police and the prosecution service.
Vice-premier and 'For the Party' leader Veronika Remisova wants just punishments for the perpetrators who kidnapped former Slovak president Michal Kovac's son in 1995 and murdered key witness Robert Remias in 1996. „The trauma inflicted by the kidnapping of the president's son, the murder of Robert Remias and the incapability of the judiciary and the prosecutor's office to punish perpetrators must come to its just conclusion," declared Remisova.
Source: TASR
