Parliament on Wednesday afternoon turned down the request by the prosecutor's office to enable potential prosecution of Smer-SD leader Robert Fico in custody. Only two votes were lacking for the proposal to be passed. With all of the 150 lawmakers present, 74 voted for the proposal, 49 were against, 19 abstained and eight did not vote. Despite the coalition having altogether 93 votes, it was not able to gather enough support to extradite the former 3-times Prime Minister. Out of the coalition parties, all the MPs from Freedom and Solidarity, For the People and most OLaNO MPs voted for the proposal, except for OLaNO MPs Romana Tabak who did not vote and Katarina Hatrakova who abstained. The last coalition party, We Are Family, chose to abstain.
Smer-SD leader Robert Fico thanked lawmakers who did not support the request by the prosecutor's office to enable his prosecution in police custody on Wednesday. Fico maintains that he is the target of a political witch hunt.
According to coalition Freedom and Solidarity party chair Richard Sulik, the outcome of the vote is the worst defeat in the entire political career of OLaNO leader’s Igor Matovic. As Sulík pointed out, Matovic was defeated by also his own lawmakers. “They will never be able to talk about the fight against corruption ever again," claimed Sulik.
“The coalition has lost one battle but not yet the whole war”, coalition party OLaNO leader and Finance Minister Igor Matovic stated on Wednesday. He pointed out that Fico will still stand trial, only he would not be held in police custody. MPs Katarina Hatrakova and Romana Tabak were expelled from the OLaNO caucus following the vote, for what OLaNO caucus chair Michal Sipos called betraying the values of the party.
Both Hatrakova and Tabak stand by their decision. Katarina Hatrakova (OLaNO) does not think that the current coalition is losing its anti-corruption credit. "I'm not saying that Fico is entitled to privileges, only that we as lawmakers enjoy a certain extent of protection," Hatrakova told the journalists after the vote. MP Romana Tabak (OLaNO) stands behind her decision, as she refused to take part in what she sees as a political vendetta. She hopes, however, that Fico will be convicted and lose his political mandate.
The yearning for a political vendetta has been defeated, Voice-SD leader Peter Pellegrini declared on Wednesday. All the independent lawmakers centred around Pellegrini, formerly members of the SMER party, voted against the motion.
As part of Operation Twilight, the National Crime Agency have charged Fico and ex-interior minister Robert Kalinak with setting up, masterminding and supporting a criminal group, misusing their powers and jeopardising confidential tax information while in office. As a lawmaker, Fico could be prosecuted in custody only with the consent of Parliament and a court decision to that effect.
Source: TASR
