BRATISLAVA, November 22, (WEBNOVINY) — On Wednesday, Prime Minister Iveta Radicova (SDKU-DS) will ask President Ivan Gasparovic to dismiss Defense Minister Lubomir Galko (SaS) from the post, the prime minister announced on Tuesday afternoon. She said she wanted to inform Minister Galko personally about her decision but was unable to contact him for more than two hours. She stressed that wiretapping of journalists, regardless whether it was lawful or not, is incompatible with basic principles of democracy and rule of law, which are the foundations of her government.
The dailies PRAVDA and NOVY CAS reported at the week’s start that three reporters of PRAVDA had been wiretapped by the military counterintelligence service. NOVY CAS wrote that the phone of the director of the TV news channel TA3 had also been tapped. The daily wrote it has access to transcripts of the phone conversations made by the service. According to PRAVDA, the alleged wiretapping was stopped after the recent collapse of the government. After the scandal surfaced, minister Galko swore to resign if it turns out that the wiretapping was done illegally. However, of ex-coalition parties only his SaS party stands by him.
SITA