Slovak court pauses legal change limiting cooperating witness testimony

Feb 11 (Reuters) – The Slovak Constitutional Court paused an amendment to the criminal code that would limit testimony from witnesses who cooperate with prosecutors in criminal cases, after opposition parties argued it was designed to shield corrupt officials.

The measure, among legal changes fast-tracked under Prime Minister Robert Fico, would require courts to reject testimony from cooperating witnesses who were charged in a case, if they had ever lied in any past testimony.

The court said in a statement on Wednesday that it had halted the provision pending further review to avoid affecting a number of ongoing cases.

The opposition said the change had been tailored to help Tibor Gaspar, deputy speaker of parliament from Fico’s party Smer-SSD, in a pending criminal case which involves a cooperating witness.

Smer denies the aim is to shield Gaspar, a former police chief who faces charges of corruption and abuse of power. Gaspar denies wrongdoing.

The court has intervened to block other legal changes under Fico since he returned to office in 2023, his fourth stint as prime minister, at the helm of a leftist-nationalist coalition.

In December, the court halted application of a law overhauling the country’s office for protection of whistleblowers and struck down some provisions of a law tightening rules for non-governmental organisations.

Prosecutors also threw out allegations last week by the government that the previous cabinet’s donations of fighter jets and air-defence systems to Ukraine were illegal.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in PragueEditing by Peter Graff)