- Igor Matovič files a criminal report for defamation against Zuzana Plevíková.
- According to Matovič, Plevíková’s statements about his behavior were not true.
- On Thursday, the parliament approved an amendment to the Criminal Code with several changes.
Member of Parliament and chairman of the Slovak Movement Igor Matovič will file a criminal complaint against Member of Parliament Zuzana Plevíková (Smer-SD) for defamation. The reason is her statements at the Friday press conference regarding the Thursday (December 11) incident in the National Council of the Slovak Republic. He denied that he attacked the deputy. He informed about it at the press conference on Friday.
“Not once did I attack MP Plevíková, and when someone demonstrated some attacks, they were her attempts, where she tried to take something from my hands that she didn’t like,” said Matovič. He referred to the videos from the plenary session of the parliament during the negotiations on the amendment to the Criminal Code, when he also pointed out via a banner that the amendment is intended to help the accused deputy speaker of the parliament, Tibor Gašpar (Smer-SD). The statements that he attacked Plevíková are therefore not true, according to him. “I will file a criminal complaint against her for defamation in this regard,” announced Matovič.
He also expressed his disappointment with the chairman of the Progressive Slovak, Michal Šimečka. He regrets being silent during the entire incident on Thursday. At the same time, he would expect key statements from him in the debate on the amendment to the Criminal Code, but also on the law on changing the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers into a new office. He believes that the chairman of the PS made only one factual remark.
The parliamentary clubs Smer and Hlas at the Friday conference condemned the behavior of Matovič and other opposition members on Thursday in the parliament. Deputies Zuzana Matejičková (Smer-SD), Zuzana Plevíková (Smer-SD), Paula Puškárová (Hlas-SD) and Zdenka Mačicová (Hlas-SD) drew attention to vulgarisms that Matovič should have addressed to them. At the same time, Plevíková pointed out that Matovič should have pushed her after she wanted to take away his banner, which according to her was deceptive. The MPs announced that they would turn to the Mandate and Immunity Committee with their submissions.
On Thursday evening, the Parliament approved the amendment to the Criminal Code, which also includes several changes that were added to the proposal on Thursday morning as part of committee deliberations. In the plenary, since the start of the vote on the amendment, opposition MPs chanted the word “shame” and blew whistles to express their disapproval. There was also a physical fight between some coalition and opposition legislators.
