Former Slovak President Michal Kováč who died at the age of 86 in Bratislava on Wednesday evening was a symbol of the fight for democracy, according to many current and former political leaders and analysts.
An economist and banker by profession, he was elected as the first president of the independent Slovakia by lawmakers in 1993, four years after the fall of the Iron Curtain. He openly resisted against the authoritarian regime of Prime Minister Vladimir Mečiar who kept Slovakia away from the European Union. The animosity between the two escalated in 1995 when the president's son, at that time subject to an international arrest warrant for financial crimes, was allegedly kidnapped by the secret service that Mečiar controlled and driven to Austria. The incident has never been seriously investigated and Mečiar proclaimed an amnesty on all crimes linked to the event after taking over as acting president when Kováč's term expired in 1998.
"President Michal Kováč was holding his post in the difficult period of 1993-1998; a time when a ruthless and brutal fight was being fought for the character and future of Slovakia ... He helped keep Slovakia on the path that eventually led to the European family of free nations and states," said current Slovak President Andrej Kiska.
Tributes were paid by his former foreign policy advisor Pavol Demeš for whom Kováč's service and bravery pushed the country into being a modern European state. Rudolf Schuster who took over the presidency from Kováč has added that until this day the Slovak Parliament has not been able to properly deal with the case of the kidnapping of his son even if it had enough time to do so. Prime Minister Robert Fico who, in his own words, had very good human relations with Kováč, announced he will be buried with honours at a date the family will agree on.
