Slovakia’s streets had been once more websites of protest on Tuesday, with hundreds of individuals mobilising throughout main cities to oppose plans by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s new authorities to amend the nation’s penal code. ADVERTISEMENTThe possible modifications, which would require parliamentary and presidential approval earlier than turning into regulation, embody a proposal to …
Slovakia’s streets had been once more websites of protest on Tuesday, with hundreds of individuals mobilising throughout main cities to oppose plans by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s new authorities to amend the nation’s penal code.
ADVERTISEMENTThe possible modifications, which would require parliamentary and presidential approval earlier than turning into regulation, embody a proposal to abolish the particular prosecutor’s workplace, which handles critical crimes similar to graft, organised crime and extremism.
In response to the plans, from mid-January these circumstances can be taken over by prosecutors in regional places of work, which haven’t handled such crimes for 20 years.
Michal Simecka, chief of Slovakia’s opposition liberal celebration, mentioned the modifications “would end in an amnesty for mafia and corrupt individuals.”
“We now have to indicate them that we’ll defend justice,” he added.
The European Fee has referred to as for “thorough and in-depth evaluation” of the reform which, by its very nature, “is far-reaching and touches on plenty of EU regulation”.
Reviews from native media confirmed on Monday that the coalition authorities of left-wing populists and ultranationalists had postponed plans to introduce the controversial modifications by emergency process earlier than Christmas, the timeline shifting as an alternative to the brand new yr.
However the delay didn’t cease protestors turning out in power on Tuesday, an estimated 15,000 individuals demonstrating within the nation’s capital, Bratislava, the place crowds had been heard repeatedly chanting: “We’ve had sufficient of Fico.”
Since Fico’s authorities got here to energy earlier this yr, some elite investigators and police officers who cope with prime corruption circumstances have been dismissed or furloughed.
The particular prosecutor’s workplace which the federal government proposes to abolish is presently dealing with a number of main corruption circumstances involving politicians from Fico’s Smer celebration, similar to former police chief Tibor Gaspar and deputy speaker of parliament Peter Ziga, in addition to central financial institution governor Peter Kazimir and the previous head of the intelligence providers.
The deliberate modifications within the authorized system additionally embody a discount in punishments for corruption.
Fico returned to energy for a fourth time in September, after his leftist celebration received Slovakia’s parliamentary election on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform.
His critics fear that his return may lead Slovakia to desert its pro-Western course and as an alternative observe the path of Hungary underneath Viktor Orbán.
The protests have been gaining momentum since 7 December, when individuals first took to the streets of Bratislava.
Organisers mentioned on Tuesday that rallies came about in Kosice, Presov, Poprad, Banska Bystrica, Zilina, Nitra, Trnava, Trencin, Spisska Nova Ves, Liptovsky Mikulas and Povazska Bystrica.
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