'Slovakia' Party Files Criminal Complaint Against Fico Over Sabotage

Bratislava, 16 April (TASR) - The opposition's 'Slovakia' party has filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor-General's Office against Prime Minister Robert Fico, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (both Smer-SD), and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) over serious suspicion that the migration crisis may have been deliberately misused ahead of the 2023 parliamentary elections in cooperation with representatives of a foreign power. The party announced this at a press conference on Thursday, saying it was responding to statements by Hungarian election winner Peter Magyar, who spoke about the practices of the previous Hungarian government after winning elections. "Several months before the elections, we saw a sharp increase in illegal migration in Slovakia. Robert Fico exploited this in the campaign — he spread fear, visited locations with migrants, filmed videos and claimed the state was failing," said former interior minister (2020-23) and MP Roman Mikulec ('Slovakia'-For the People). At the time, he said, there were suspicions that the situation had not arisen spontaneously. According to Mikulec, if someone knowingly cooperates with a foreign power to create a security crisis in their own country, it raises suspicions of sabotage and even treason. The party considers it unacceptable for a constitutional official to prioritise personal political gain over state security. "It is unthinkable that in a democratic country a politician would knowingly expose their own citizens to risk just to win elections," Mikulec said. According to him, the criminal complaint contains detailed reasoning and proposals for evidence. Magyar said in his statement that, unlike Hungary's current prime minister Viktor Orban, he would not release 2,200 convicted migrant smugglers from Hungarian prisons. He also said that "we will not bring migrants to the Slovak border if it were required by the interests of our 'social-democrat friend' in an election campaign". mf/mcs