Slovak court opens door to investigate political kidnapping

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Slovakia’s constitutional Court has approved Parliament’s decision to annul criminal pardons granted by former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar that barred an investigation into the kidnapping of the son of late President Michal Kovac.

The authoritarian Meciar led Slovakia into international isolation during the 1990s and is alleged to have been behind Michal Kovac Jr.’s abduction to Austria in 1995.

Meciar’s government acquired some presidential powers temporarily in 1998 when lawmakers failed to elect a new president. He granted pardons that made it impossible to investigate the kidnapping.

In a statement Wednesday, the court said the move by Parliament was in line with the Constitution.

President Andrej Kiska welcomed the court’s ruling, saying it “opens space to enforce elementary justice.”