BRATISLAVA, January 18 Rally against the plans of the Cabinet of Ministers Slovakia to carry out a large-scale reform of criminal legislation took place in Bratislava, the correspondent reports.
Earlier, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico announced a large-scale reform of criminal legislation, including mitigation of punishment for some economic and property crimes and the elimination of the special prosecutor's office. The opposition in Slovakia believes that proposals to close the special prosecutor's office are due to the fact that the government wants to stop the investigation of politically sensitive cases.
“There are 26 thousand of us here… Together we have ensured that Robert Fico has still not advanced his pro-mafia package,” said Michal Šimečka, head of the Progresivne Slovensko party and vice-speaker of the Slovak Parliament, at a rally on Thursday.
He noted that the Slovak opposition was supported by members of the European Parliament, who had previously adopted a resolution criticizing the Fico government.
“This government is destroying everything that was finally starting to work in Slovakia: justice, foreign policy, nature conservation and culture,” added Šimečka.
Earlier, the President of the Republic, Zuzana Caputova, also stated that amendments to criminal legislation proposed by the Fico government could negatively affect the effectiveness of justice and provoke an increase in crime in Slovakia.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor in Slovakia, which Fico's government plans to close as part of the reform, deals with cases related to organized crime, corruption, abuse of power, terrorism and extremism. Slovak President Zuzana Caputova previously said she was not convinced by the government's arguments for the need to close the unit. She also said that she was ready to veto these amendments. The European Commission also asked the Slovak government not to rush to close the special prosecutor's office. Later, the US Embassy in Slovakia made a statement that the United States agrees with the European Commission and believes that such large-scale changes require careful analysis.
Slovak Prime Minister Fico stated that the special prosecutor's office had repeatedly violated human rights during investigations, and simply changing its head would not be enough. He also said that “the evil in the person of Daniel Lipschitz (head of the special prosecutor’s office — ed.) must be put to an end.” According to Fico, Lipschitz is guided by political motives in his activities.
Previously, Lipschitz was actively involved in politics and was in opposition to the government, which at that time was also headed by Fico. Lipsitz at different times headed the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Slovakia. In 2014, he became one of the initiators of opposition rallies against corruption and called on Fico to resign as prime minister. In 2016, Lipschitz, while overtaking another car, killed an elderly man at a pedestrian crossing. According to local media reports, the politician was able to negotiate with the relatives of the deceased to compensate them for damages, but was later sentenced to three years probation. Immediately after the incident, Lipshits resigned as a deputy. In 2021, he headed the office of the special prosecutor.