Vanco: Zilinka Ignores Parliament, Slovakia Needs Reform of Prosecution Service

Bratislava, March 14 (TASR) - Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka ignores Parliament and its supervisory function, which only goes to show that Slovakia needs a reform of its prosecution service and restrictions on the powers of the prosecutor-general, opposition MP Branislav Vanco (PS) declared at a press conference on Friday in response to a recent MPs' probe at the Prosecutor-General's Office. "I invited the prosecutors who in March 2024 wrote an open letter in which they drew attention to serious managerial and other failures at the Prosecutor-General's Office when the former Special Prosecutor's Office was being scrapped," said Vanco, adding that the nine prosecutors in question were not allowed to accept his invitation due to Zilinka's intervention, however. Vanco also invited Zilinka to the meeting, but the prosecutor-general ignored this. Vanco pointed out that the nine prosecutors warned that ongoing criminal prosecutions in high-profile corruption cases are being potentially thwarted, but the prosecutor-general has done nothing to aid the submission of concessions for defendants who cooperate to courts, as required under recently amended legislation. Vanco claimed that "sensitive cases" haven't been thwarted only thanks to the prompt actions of former Special Prosecutor's Office prosecutors, who managed to report these concessions to courts in time. In the letter, the nine prosecutors also complained about Zilinka's personnel decisions, claiming that he assigns sensitive cases only to two hand-picked female prosecutors. "It's apparent that Slovakia needs a fundamental reform of the prosecution service. This case and the actions of Mr. Zilinka serve as evidence that Slovakia needs a wholly different type of prosecution service, one which will reflect the democratic rule of law instead of a totalitarian or Soviet model," said Vanco. In February, an MPs' probe was conducted at the Prosecutor-General's Office. Zilinka called it unfeasible and considers it to be done and dusted. The lawmakers weren't allowed to talk to the nine prosecutors, with Vanco claiming this was due to Zilinka. mf/df