The last chief of the communist Czechoslovak secret police (StB), General Alojz Lorenc, is to stand trial before a Slovak military court.
Published:
5 June 2000 y., Monday
More than 10 years after the StB was dissolved, Lorenc will face charges of being responsible for the arrests of some 300 dissidents and opponents of the totalitarian regime in 1988-89, as well as destroying a large number of secret documents. Lorenc, accused of abuse of power after the fall of the communist regime and sentenced to four years in prison in October 1992, took advantage of the division of the former Czechoslovakia after the sentence was confirmed on appeal in May 1993 to take refuge in Bratislava, capital of newly-independent Slovakia.
In 1994 the Czech police were refused leave by Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant due to the "political nature" of the matter and from 1995 to 1998 Lorenc benefited from a judicial void preventing his extradition to the Czech Republic.
Only in May 1999 several months after the new government of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda took power did Slovakia say it was prepared to move against him. In his defence, Lorenc said: "In line with my job, I took certain responsibilities, and under the law I was bound to carry them out."
Šaltinis:
Tasr news agency
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
In the final session of the February plenary MEPs gathered to discuss the issue of correct labelling for animal feeds. BSE, CJD and 'mad cow' disease stemmed directly from using contaminated animal feeds leading to widespread culls and fear of the unknown.
more »
Officials of Australia are warning residents of country's second largest state to keep an eye out for crocs and other animals roaming the area.
more »
MEPs believe “the right to speak and to be educated in one's mother tongue is one of the most basic fundamental rights” and on Tuesday Hungarian Socialist Csaba Tabajdi and five other MEPs grilled the Commission on its plans to protect traditional national, ethnic and immigrant minorities in Europe.
more »
Thirteen thousand people from as far as Japan gathered in western Pennsylvania to see if spring will come early.
more »
The self-described "mom-in-chief," First Lady Michelle Obama, took to the podium at the U.S. Department of Education.
more »
Most Europeans are unhappy with the bus and train services in their cities, and a large percentage complain about their power companies and banks, an EU survey shows.
more »
Thousands turned out in Moscow for the enthronement of the Russian Orthodox Church's - the world's second-biggest Church - new leader.
more »
India‘s slum dwellers are taken to the streets in protest at the name of the Oscar-nominated film "Slumdog Millionaire."
more »
Chris Ogle bought a second hand MP3 player in America for just 10 dollars and back home in New Zealand he found it contained 60 confidential US military files.
more »
European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, announced the planned funding as he visited the Middle East region on a two-day humanitarian mission.
more »