BRATISLAVA, September 24, (WEBNOVINY) — Chairman of the opposition party SMER-SD Robert Fico again stayed away from his trial at Bratislava I District Court, which today continues in the hearing on the defamation case in which he is sued by Finance Minister Ivan Miklos (SDKU-DS) for a statement Fico made in 2003. His lawyer Zuzana Kupcova excused his absence saying he was busy. Miklos is present in court on Friday.
At the last hearing, Kupcova insisted that the court summoned as witnesses former Finance Minister Brigita Schmoegnerova, Ambassador of Slovakia in Hungary, Peter Weiss, a former governing coalition politician Pavol Rusko, as well as some former members of parliament. Weiss and former SNS deputy Rastislav Septak came to testify today. Miklos‘ lawyer Ernest Valko suggested that the judge considered whether it is relevant to summon any more witnesses, as already at the last hearing, has argued that summoning any new witnesses is completely unnecessary. He noted that so far the defendant has not produced any relevant evidence to support the validity of the sued statement. Valko said he did not want the seven-year dispute to be protracted any longer. Fico’s lawyer said today that they too do not want to prolong the proceedings and waived her request for questioning of the absent witnesses.
Miklos is suing Fico for a statement he made in February 2003. As an opposition member of parliament, Fico expressed a suspicion at a news conference that commissions associated with privatization may be the source of enormous wealth of Vladimir Meciar. „My personal opinion — given all what was happening around the Slovak gas utility SPP, Mr. Miklos is a very wealthy man, maybe richer than Meciar,“ said Fico. Fico also spoke at a special session of Parliament dedicated to corruption, where he raised additional allegations toward Miklos, who then announced that he would sue the SMER-SD chairman.
When the court adjourned June, Miklos said that he had filed the lawsuit in March 2003 and Robert Fico, instead of proving that what he said was true has been obstructing the court proceedings for more than seven years. Witnesses who testified in this case include several former Cabinet ministers from the time of privatization of SPP – Pavel Koncos, Peter Magvasi, Frantisek Hajnovic, and Maria Machova.
On Friday, the judge adjourned the proceedings until October 8, when she expects to hand down her verdict.
SITA