PG Zilinka Rejects Fico's Claim That He's Changed His Stance on Military Aid

Bratislava, 2 November (TASR) - Prosecutor-General (PG) Maros Zilinka has rejected Prime Minister Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) claim that he's changed his stance regarding the investigation into the donation of military equipment to Ukraine, TASR learnt from Zilinka's social media post published on Monday in response to Fico's statements on Saturday (31 October). Zilinka also said that he hasn't discussed either the investigation or the decision on the case at hand with the prime minister. "I've never commented on the substantive aspects of the case or the manner in which it was handled by the law-enforcement authorities," stated Zilinka. According to him, he only commented on the matter on Friday (30 October) after reviewing the legality of the actions taken by subordinate prosecutors. Zilinka denied having changed his stance on the issue, therefore. "Consequently, there couldn't have been - and there hasn't been - any change in my opinion. My only guiding principle in this matter has always been the law and the protection of legality," stressed Zilinka. He also responded to Fico's statement about a "rather heated exchange of views" between them on this matter, insisting that this never took place. "There has never been any exchange of views between me and the prime minister of the Slovak Republic on 'this topic', namely the investigation and the decision concerning the donation of military equipment, let alone a 'rather heated' one," stated Zilinka, adding that he hasn't communicated with Fico - either in person or by any other means - since the prime minister visited the Prosecutor-General's Office on 2 February. The prosecutor-general also recalled that in September, he responded to Fico's statement that "it's time to gift the entire Prosecutor-General's Office and the prosecutor-general to Ukraine". However, according to Zilinka, these comments didn't concern the investigation into the case. On Saturday (31 October), commenting on Zilinka's most recent decision, Fico said that he didn't want to speculate about what had led the prosecutor-general to change his stance and decide to revisit the donation of military equipment. Law-enforcement authorities were instructed to start acting in cases concerning the donation of military equipment to Ukraine during the previous electoral term. On Friday (30 October), Zilinka stated that the decision to discontinue criminal investigations was premature. According to information provided by law-enforcement authorities in February of this year, three out of the four criminal investigations related to assistance to Ukraine during the previous electoral term had been closed. Cases concerning the donation of MiG-29 fighter jets, the S-300 air-defence system and the termination of a contract with a Russian company servicing the jets were closed either by halting criminal proceedings or rejecting criminal complaints. jrg/df