The Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico (Smer-SD) emphasizes that the Sunday (March 1) press conference of party leaders has nothing to do with the Tuesday (March 3) action of the police inspectorate called Kajúcnik. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister repeatedly criticized the approach of law enforcement authorities to cooperating persons in the period from 2020 to 2023.
- Robert Fico rejects the connection between the party press and the Kajúcnik campaign.
- Fico expects the General Prosecutor’s Office to resist pressure and prevent excesses.
- Tibor Gašpar claims that confessions of penitents were purposely forced in the past.
- The Kajúcnik police operation led to the arrest of seven persons for extortion by the police.
- The opposition calls the Kajúcnik action a political revenge related to the Purge case.
“We want to strictly separate what was said on Sunday morning at the address of one of the most famous Slovak penitents, Mr. Makó, and the prosecutor of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Slovak Republic, Michal Šúrek, from what you describe so widely in the media today,” emphasized Fico. He said that he can imagine the pressure the General Prosecutor’s Office (GP) of the Slovak Republic must be under after Tuesday’s detention of one of its prosecutors. “We believe that there will be no excesses and that the steps that GP SR will take in this regard will be professional and not caused by pressure,” he underlined.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Tibor Gašpar (Smer-SD), in the past, witness statements of the so-called penitents. “Not only to confess to their own criminal activity, but also to testify against the persons pointed to by the law enforcement authorities. To testify against Robert Fico, Robert Kaliňák, because these people interfered in the political fight.” he said. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Robert Kaliňák (Smer-SD) spoke of a gigantic effort to destroy the rule of law.
The Inspection Service Office (ÚIS) carried out a police operation called Kajúcnik on Tuesday. During it, they detained and charged four current and two former police officers and one civilian with blackmail and abuse of the authority of a public official, which they allegedly committed in an organized manner. In addition to the accused, two suspects were also detained. The action took place in the Bratislava, Nitra and Banskobystrické regions.
Several representatives of the opposition criticized this police action. They pointed out that Tuesday’s arrest of the police officers took place only two days after the press conference of Smer-SD leaders and Prime Minister’s adviser Marek Paru, at which they criticized the work of law enforcement agencies between 2020 and 2023. Therefore, they see a political order and revenge behind the detention and accusation of the policemen, since the detained policemen were investigating the Purge case. The ÚIS also rejected the connection with political statements.
