On Thursday, the parliamentary constitutional committee recommended that the House should deal with government-sponsored constitutional legislation aimed at scrapping Vladimir Mečiar's amnesties from 1998 via fast-tracked proceedings. Speeding up the process, criticised by the Opposition, was recommended by governing coalition MPs, who also have enough weight in Parliament to actually push fast-tracked proceedings through.
"It's a matter of public interest to deal with the amnesties as soon as possible; this is why the Government has recommended fast-tracked proceedings," said Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská. Opposition MP Ondrej Dostal, meanwhile, stated that the Rules of Procedure stipulate conditions for fast-tracked proceedings that have not been met in this case. "There's been a constant refusal to revoke [Mečiar's amnesties] for years, and suddenly it's become such an urgent issue that it needs to be resolved via fast-tracked proceedings," said Dostal, adding that fast-tracked proceedings are inappropriate for constitutional amendments.
Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská reacted by saying that there is a need to take advantage of the momentum that has emerged on the political scene almost 20 years after Mečiar's amnesties were issued, noting that under normal proceedings the relevant bill would be debated at its second reading in Parliament as late as in September.
Meanwhile, all thirteen MEPs representing Slovakia have voiced their support for the plan to revoke the amnesties issued by Vladimir Mečiar. "The amnesties issued by Vladimir Meciar as acting president [in 1998] are hindering the investigation into and the punishment of the serious crimes of the kidnapping of the former president Michal Kováč's son and the murder of Róbert Remiáš. Suspicions that the Slovak Intelligence Service and other state bodies and individuals were involved in these crimes represent a blotch on the face of justice, and we deem it necessary to deal with these crimes once and for all," reads the text.
The Slovak Parliament decided to discuss the coalition proposal for revoking the so-called Mečiar amnesties on Tuesday next week. The opposition will support the coalition suggestions under five conditions. So far it claims that the coalition has preliminary okayed four of the five conditions.
Mečiar's amnesties relate to the 1995 kidnapping of then president Michal Kováč's son Michal Kováč Jr. and the murder in 1996 of Róbert Remiáš, who served as a contact for a key witness of the abduction. The amnesties issued by Mečiar as acting president in 1998 also concern the thwarted referendum of 1997.
