Ferencak: It's Political Persecution, But I Won't Give Up My Seat as MP

Banska Bystrica, 8 April (TASR) - MP Jan Ferencak, who has been expelled from the coalition Voice-SD party, came to the Office for Combating Organised Crime (UBOK) in Banska Bystrica to be questioned on Wednesday, accompanied by his lawyers Peter Kubina and penal law expert Tomas Stremy. Ferencak, who concurrently serves as Kezmarok (Presov region) mayor, sees this as political persecution against him, likening it to the practices of the 1960s, when the [communist-era] State Security used similar methods to enforce obedience. However, he told the media that he isn't upset by this. According to Ferencak, an investigator summoned him for an interrogation in connection with two matters. When it comes to the first one, which is related to his ownership stake or family business, he's listed as a suspect, while he's supposed to testify as a witness regarding the second. "No one has been charged yet, which is strange, as the property of a private company has also been seized," stated the MP. Ferencak said that the security forces were deployed to look into everything that was happening around him and find things so that he could be criminalised and defamed. "A lynching has been launched against me, whether it concerns my property, or now with videos being used against me. The whole point of this is to intimidate me, so that I won't express my opinion as a constitutional official, so that I'll vote as those who run this state wish, and so that I'll be forced to quit Parliament to make way for someone more compliant. I'm not upset by these events, my hands are clean and I can defend everything. I won't give up my MP's seat, I'll continue to express my opinion as I have done so far, and I'll vote for laws that benefit the people, not just certain individuals or specific interest groups," stressed Ferencak. ko/df