Slovakia’s police chief charged for abuse of power, obstructing justice

Slovakia’s police president Peter Kovařík faces prosecution for the crime of abuse of power by a public official as well as the crime of obstructing justice, making him the third police chief in a row to face charges.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Kovařík´s intervention in the detention of three suspects in large-scale corruption cases had been thwarted. Kovařík is denying the allegations made against him.

At Kovařík’s initiative, the intervention at one of the investigated corruption cases was stopped and verified, which – according to the prosecutor’s office – were among the reasons why two of the three accused persons were not detained. One of them fled to Croatia in August, where he applied for political asylum.

Kovařík perceives his accusation as a continuing pressure on the police to investigate large cases at the National Criminal Agency, such as an investigation of former police leaders, that includes former police president Tibor Gašpar, who is currently in custody, or other former top police and public officials and oligarchs. “These are the most difficult cases ever investigated in Slovakia in the field of corruption,” the police president said.

But investigators from the National Criminal Agency, as well as the Bratislava Prosecutor’s Office, which oversees the inspection’s investigation are denying the notion of a “war in the police”. Yet, tensions culminated last week with the accusation of the current police chief.

Kovařík was appointed police president at the start of 2021, replacing Milan Lučanský, who  committed suicide in custody after he was accused of corruption. Lučanský’s predecessor, Tibor Gašpar, was also accused of corruption.

A former special prosecutor and several high-ranking officials, nominees of previous governments, are also in custody after extensive police anti-corruption activities that started in March 2020, shortly after the last parliamentary election. The former head of the Slovak Information Service, who was appointed by the new government, is also in custody for alleged corruption.