Spisiak: Institute of Cooperating Defendants Helps Dismantle Crime Structures

Bratislava, 16 February (TASR) - The institute of the so-called cooperating defendants helps dismantle, prosecute and try organisers of criminal structures worldwide, with cooperating defendants being the individuals who help eliminate violent or economic crime, which sometimes reaches the highest political spheres, opposition MP and former police chief Jaroslav Spisiak (Progressive Slovakia) said at a press conference on Monday. Spisiak responded this way to Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), who considers abolishing the institute to be the most appropriate solution. "Robert Fico suggests that the entire institute of cooperating defendants is fundamentally wrong. These individuals allegedly make things up, should not be taken into account and should not be granted benefits. In his view, the whole concept is flawed because it allows, according to him, the political misuse of criminal law against the opposition. The truth, however, is completely different," Spisiak said. He recalled that in the 1990s it was cooperating defendants who helped break up mafia groups. Spisiak pointed out that in 2001, when he was first vice-president of the Police Corps, he initiated the introduction of the institute into criminal law. It was eventually incorporated in 2005 during the recodification of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Criminal Code. "I do not believe that Prime Minister Fico would really be capable of doing this. He would be the only prime minister in the world to take such a step," the MP added. MP Zuzana Stevulova (Progressive Slovakia) believes that the only aim of the current government is to "rescue" House vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) from a fair trial. "On Sunday (15 February), senior Smer officials stood in front of television cameras and did not address the problems of the people of this country. They've been busy dealing with the problems of a single person, Tibor Gaspar. I ask whether this government's Manifesto contained only chapters concerning Tibor Gaspar, Norbert Bodor and others from this gang," Stevulova said. She called on the government to return to its policy statement. According to prime minister Fico, the most appropriate solution would be to amend the Criminal Procedure Code and completely abolish the institute of the cooperating defendants, which he described as unreliable. Fico said this at a press conference on Sunday in response to the Constitutional Court's decision to suspend the effectiveness of an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code concerning the inadmissibility of evidence obtained from a cooperating defendant. mf