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Film on real-life “Kidnapping” looks at Slovakia’s ex-PM

Film on real-life "Kidnapping" looks at Slovakia's ex-PM | iNFOnews.ca
FILE- In this March 11, 2004 file picture Vladimir Meciar meets with the media in Bratislava, Slovakia, A new movie hit Slovak cinemas based on a real event that shocked Slovakia: a kidnap of late President Michal Kovac’s son during the rule of authoritarian Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar. Meciar led Slovakia into international isolation in the 1990s and is believed to be behind Michal Kovac jr’s kidnapping to Austria in 1995. (Peter Mayer/CTK via AP)

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – A new movie in Slovakia is based on a real event that shocked the country: the kidnapping of late President Michal Kovac’s son during the rule of authoritarian Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar.

Meciar led Slovakia into international isolation in the 1990s and is believed to be behind Michal Kovac Jr.’s kidnapping to Austria in 1995. The Slovak spy agency known as SIS —then led by a close Meciar ally — has been widely blamed but Meciar’s 1998 pardons have made it impossible to investigate the kidnapping.

Slovak President Andrej Kiska has urged parliament to cancel Meciar’s pardons and lawmakers will vote on that later this month.

Kiska called the political thriller “Kidnapping” by director Mariana Cengel Solcanska a sad story — “and the saddest thing is it’s based on reality.”

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