LSNS Demands Thorough Investigation into Kidnapping of Vietnamese Manager

Bratislava, August 10 (TASR) - Far-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) demands a thorough investigation into the kidnapping of former Vietnamese state manager Trinh Xuan Thanh via Slovakia, with LSNS chair Marian Kotleba stating at a press conference on Friday that he has a bad feeling about the case. LSNS representatives maintain that they don't want to make premature judgements without evidence and will wait for the investigation results. "It's not clear [yet]. On a personal note, however, and based on what I heard at a committee session on Thursday [August 9] and another committee session on Friday, I've got a bad feeling about this," said Kotleba. On Thursday, members of the parliamentary Defence and Security Committee were informed about how the head of the Office for Protection of Constitutional Officials had been sent on a mandatory vacation after receiving political pressure from the junior coalition Most-Hid party. "For a democratic country, which Slovakia purports to be, I find it unacceptable to have people replaced in their posts based on nothing but political decisions and political pressure from one of the coalition parties," claimed the LSNS chair. Kotleba is also surprised by the fact that the supervision and control of the Slovak investigation into the case falls under the remit of the Bratislava Regional Prosecutor's Office. "Where is the Special Prosecutor's Office now? Why is the investigation into such a serious scandal, with international ramifications, not controlled by the Special Prosecutor's Office? Such an approach only reinforces our impression that the Special Prosecutor's Office was founded only for political aims, with an eye towards persecuting political opponents," said Kotleba [the Special Prosecutor's Office has investigated several extremism-related cases centred around LSNS figures - ed.note]. mf/mch/am