Latest news with #Slovensko
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Slovakia's PM slams judge over conviction of central bank boss
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has criticised a judge who convicted the governor of the country's central bank in a corruption case. Reacting to the conviction of Petr Kazimir, his former finance minister, the combative premier suggested on Friday that the verdict was politically motivated, and that Specialised Criminal Court judge Milan Cisarik should be investigated for criminal acts. Since returning to power in 2023, Fico has torn down police and prosecutor units set up to investigate corruption during his previous years in power between 2012 – 2020. Kazimir was found guilty and fined 200,000 euros ($226,500) on Thursday for bribing a tax official during his tenure as finance minister in Fico's previous government. Claiming that the longstanding charges were fabricated, he denied any wrongdoing and said that he plans to appeal. 'The judge's decision raises the question whether it should have served political aims of the opposition to damage the ruling parties, because even a law faculty student must see fatal nonsense in the verdict,' the Slovak leader said on Thursday. 'I cannot shake off the feeling that it is justified to look at potential suspicion that the judge committed multiple criminal acts and at what the ruling was supposed to serve.' The court did not respond to Fico's remarks. The For Open Justice (ZOJ) NGO warned: 'Questioning a specific judgment through public statements by members of the government can also be perceived as indirect political pressure on the judiciary.' Fico fell from power in 2020 amid the scandal over the 2018 assassination of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak. The new government set up special units to investigate a suspected network of corruption around the former PM and his inner circle. Fico routinely complained that the measures were politically motivated. On returning to power in late 2023, he immediately began tearing up the units and amended the criminal code to lower punishments for corruption. Critics have accused him of becoming obsessed with exacting revenge on those involved in probes against his circle. Kazimir, was the first of Fico's former ministers to stand trial when he first faced the court in April 2023 accused of paying a bribe of 48,000 euros ($54,360) in 2017-18 to the chief of the country's tax office, in connection with an audit of a number of private companies. His term at the head of the National Bank of Slovakia ends on June 1, but he will stay on until a replacement is appointed.
Russia Today
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
EU nation gathers 400,000 signatures to have Russia sanctions lifted (VIDEO)
Activists in Slovakia have gathered nearly 400,000 signatures demanding the lifting of EU sanctions against Russia. The country's president, Peter Pellegrini, will now have to respond to the petition and consider holding a referendum within a month. Members of the Slovak Revival Movement (SHO) and the national party DOMOV, who are behind the petition, have submitted the signatures to the office of the president. They want the government to pose the following question to its citizens: 'Do you agree that... sanctions against the Russian Federation harm Slovak citizens, tradesmen and entrepreneurs?' Commenting on the initiative that was launched late last year and has surpassed the 350,000 threshold for consideration, Pellegrini's office promised to 'handle petition sheets strictly in accordance with the law.' SHO leader Robert Svec said he expects the president not to ignore the petition and to call for a referendum, citing Pellegrini's own presumed skepticism regarding anti-Russian sanctions. In late March, the activists held a conference called 'For Slovakia Without Sanctions,' that was attended by a number of politicians and economists. Speaking at the time, DOMOV leader Pavol Slota claimed that Slovakia's future depends on whether the sanctions against Moscow will be lifted or not. 'It is about our whole nation, all Slovak citizens,' he stated. Economist Peter Stanek, in turn, said that 'there are dozens of studies that clearly show that sanctions have never worked,' affecting instead 'those who imposed them.' Slovakia implemented the sweeping EU sanctions imposed on Russia following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Robert Fico, who became prime minister in 2023, has maintained that the punitive measures 'are not working,' and doing more harm to member states than Moscow.
