The police didn’t give any additional details. David Lindtner, the lawyer for the men, stated that they were charged with setting up a criminal organization.
Fico denied any wrongdoing.
Fico stated that it was a clear case of political revenge and added that Robert Kalinak, his former interior minister, was being tried against him because he wanted to “liquidate the political opposition.”
Fico is currently a lawmaker in support of his leftist opposition SmerSocial Democracy party. The police have not asked Parliament to grant Fico’s detention and waive immunity rules.
Kalinak is currently a lawyer.
Eduard Heger, Prime Minister, stated that he hopes the evidence will support the decision to indict Fico and Kalinak. He stated that the decision was made by law enforcement officials on their own.
The fight against corruption is a major policy concern for the current coalition government of four parties. Many senior officers, judges and prosecutors as well as politicians and businessmen have been indicted for corruption since the coalition took power following the 2020 general elections.
Fico was a populist politician who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and again in 2012 to 2018.
After the 2018 murders of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, an investigative journalist, he resigned.
Kuciak was investigating government corruption at the time he was shot and killed. Major street protests were sparked by the killings, which was unprecedented since the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. This also triggered a political crisis that ultimately led to the collapse of the government.
