| You are in: World: Europe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 7 April, 2000, 12:00 GMT 13:00 UK Former Slovak leader defies police ![]() Mr Meciar says the case is politically motivated By Ray Furlong in Slovakia The former Slovak prime minister, Vladimir Meciar, is refusing to give himself up to police for questioning about the kidnapping of the president's son in 1995. He has been living surrounded by bodyguards in a guest-house in a small spa town for the past two weeks. Mr Meciar was prime minister at the time President Michal Kovac's son was kidnapped. The then Slovak security chief, Ivan Lexa, has already been charged in connection with the case. Charges Ministers in the current Slovak government have not ruled out bringing charges against Mr Meciar himself. But he says the whole affair is politically motivated and through a party spokesman, announced that he would not co-operate with the court. When in power, Mr Meciar - a bitter political enemy of Mr Kovac - was strongly criticised by the West for authoritarian methods and abuses of power.
But officials are now faced with an unpleasant situation. Mr Meciar is making a mockery of police investigations, but forcing their way into the guest house and dragging him out could play into his hands. Nor is Mr Meciar a spent force politically; despite making a tearful farewell to politics after the last elections, he has made quite a comeback, and his party is currently well ahead in opinion polls. |
See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Links to other Europe stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Links to more Europe stories |
| ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII|News Sources|Privacy | ||