The Slovak Interior Ministry yesterday told CTK that Slovak-born former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was illegally registered as an agent of the former Czechoslovak Communist Secret Police (StB) and declared that he was not intentionally cooperating with it. He told CTK yesterday. Babis welcomed the decision.
The firm reached a personal protection dispute settlement with Mr. Babis following a lawsuit he filed alleging fraudulent entries in the StB file. The department justified the settlement based on two legal analyzes and the fact that the risk of failure was high.
The Interior Ministry said Babis could seek even higher financial compensation in such cases. “From the point of view of efficient management of public finances, this risk is unacceptable,” the agency said.
The ministry said the settlement was concluded based on a pair of legal analyzes and would therefore prevent potential financial losses to the state. “This procedure is fully in line with our efforts to protect Slovakia’s financial interests and prevent unnecessary waste of public funds,” the Interior Ministry said.
The ministry said Babiš has promised not to pursue any claims for damages against Slovakia in connection with his registration as a StB agent and to withdraw the complaint he filed with the European Court of Human Rights.
In response, Babis told CTK, “I never doubted that I would win the case. That’s why I said I would not hesitate to fight the case in court for the rest of my life.” “I have never cooperated with the StB. There is no evidence to prove otherwise. That is why I have won four times in court.”
“I’m glad it was decisive,” he added. “After 12 years of abuse from political opponents who insulted me, I have been fundamentally hurt. I do not expect an apology, they will not have the courage.”
Mr. Babis has been trying for years to obtain a verdict in the Slovakian courts that he was incorrectly listed in the records as an agent of the StB. Most recently, a Slovak court ruled that Babiš should have sued the Slovak Ministry of the Interior rather than the Slovak Institute of National Memory (UPN), which manages the StB files in Slovakia.
In 2012, Mr. Babiš sued UPN, following the practice of Slovak courts at the time, but five years later the Constitutional Court broke this rule, overturning previous district and supreme court verdicts in Mr. Babiš’s favor. However, the Constitutional Court did not specify who would be the defendant in the case.
In 2019, the Constitutional Court overturned further decisions of the District Court and the Slovak Supreme Court that had dismissed Babiš’s previous case. The relevant chamber of the court justified this on the basis that the general court had not decided who would be the defendant in the dispute. The main topic dealt with by the Slovak courts at that time was precisely the resolution of this issue, and not the legitimacy of Babiš’s entry in the StB documents themselves.
According to archival documents, Babis became a confidant of the StB in 1980, and two years later was recruited by StB lieutenant Julius Suman to work with the communist secret police as an agent under the code name “Breath”. However, during the hearing of Mr. Babis’ case in the District Court, the District Court declared that the information was not true and that Mr. Babis was not employed by the StB.
In a 2017 ruling, the Slovak Constitutional Court questioned the credibility of a former StB official who testified in favor of Babiš in a local court, and whose testimony was considered important at the time.
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Meanwhile, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) wrote on social media yesterday that Babiš had signed an agreement with a friendly Slovak politician, denying the Slovak Interior Ministry’s decision as a deal between the two parties. .
The Slovak Ministry of the Interior is headed by Matus Staj Estok, chairman of Hlas-SD, which is part of the Slovak coalition government. In the spring, Babi repeatedly publicly supported Hlas-SD founder Peter Pellegrini in the presidential election.
“The independent court’s judgment has been replaced by regular horse-trading,” Fiala said, adding that Babis was trying to bend the facts in his favor. “Today’s announcement of an absolutely incredible political agreement on cooperation with the StB that he has struck with friendly politicians in Slovakia is the latest evidence of that.”
Petr Blazek, a Czech historian and director of the Museum of 20th Century Memory in Prague, said the ministry’s settlement with Babiš was completely unusual. “It’s not a common thing,” he told Czech television. “There is sufficient evidence to prove that Andrej Babis cooperated with some aspects of national security as a secret collaborator codenamed Breath,” Blazek said.
He added that the Interior Ministry’s decision contradicts the information known about Babis’ cooperation with the StB. “We have not only some of the volumes kept about Andrei Babis as a secret collaborator in national security, but also references to a secret collaborator with the code name Brez in many other volumes. ‘ he added.
