Bamako, Jan 22, 2019 (AFP) – A former officer with Slovak intelligence service SIS has been abducted from his home in the Malian capital Bamako, his Malian lawyer and supporters told AFP on Tuesday. “Lubos Kosik, my Slovak-nationality client, an ex-officer in his homeland, was abducted last Tuesday by armed men at his home in Bamako,” his lawyer Youssouf Keita said, adding that he had filed a lawsuit. Slovakia in 2017 reopened an investigation into the unresolved 1995 kidnapping of the son of then president Michal Kovac. Kovac junior was found in neighbouring Austria, where a court found in 1995 that the intelligence services, which employed Kosik at the time, had a role in the incident.
A 1998 general amnesty under then prime minister and Kovac senior rival Vladimir Meciar saw the case fall by the wayside after earlier claims by Slovakia’s political establishment fingering the intelligence services for the abduction. Bratislava demanded his extradition two years ago following his arrest in Mali. However, Malian authorities released him last November. “Taking into account elements presented by Slovakia, Malian justice rejected the extradition demand,” a Malian judicial source told AFP, adding that Bamako was in no way involved in his abduction last week. “We are very concerned at the abduction of Lubos Kosik,” said Michel Desert, a member of a support group for the former agent. “He always said he bore no responsibility” for the 1995 kidnapping, Desert told AFP. “He was taken a week ago by armed men. We are asking if this is an Slovakian-ordered operation” as a means of “illegally obtaining an extradition already refused by Malian justice,” Desert speculated. The Bratislava parliament in April 2017 quashed the Meciar amnesty and reopened the investigation.
UPDATE: Slovakia denies involvement in ex-agent’s Mali abduction
Bratislava, Jan 23, 2019 (AFP) – Slovak officials on Wednesday said they had no role in the Mali abduction of a former Slovak secret service agent who the government had sought to extradite two years ago. Lubos Kosik, a former officer with Slovak intelligence service SIS, was abducted by armed men from his home in the Malian capital Bamako last week, his lawyer and supporters told AFP on Tuesday. Bratislava demanded Kosik’s extradition two years ago after it reopened an investigation into an unresolved 1995 kidnapping in which intelligence services were suspected to have been involved. “We did not participate in the abduction of Mr. Kosik,” Slovak foreign ministry spokesman Boris Gandel told AFP. “I have no information about the possible participation of other authorities.” He said that “our ministry has not yet received confirmation of Lubos Kosik’s kidnapping from Malian authorities.” Slovak Justice Minister Gabor Gal told AFP late Tuesday: “I have no information about it.” SIS spokesman Branislav Zvara said the agency categorically ruled out any unlawful proceedings or action in connection with this matter.
Slovakia in 2017 reopened an investigation into the unresolved 1995 kidnapping of the son of then president Michal Kovac. Kovac junior was found in neighbouring Austria, where a court found in 1995 that the intelligence services, which employed Kosik at the time, had a role in the incident.
A 1998 general amnesty under then prime minister Vladimir Meciar, a Kovac rival, saw the case disappear from the headlines. But Bratislava demanded the former agent’s extradition two years ago following his arrest in Mali. Extradition requests were sent to Mali because Kosik was sentenced to prison for counterfeiting securities and because of an international arrest warrant accusing him of participating in Kovac’s abduction, Slovak Justice Ministry spokeswoman Denisa Gersi told AFP on Wednesday.
Malian authorities released Kosik last November. A Malian judicial source told AFP this week the country’s justice system rejected the request based on the elements Slovakia had presented. The source said Bamako was not involved in the Kosik’s abduction. Interviewed by the Slovak SME daily by phone in November last year, Kosik said from Mali that he was willing to testify in the Kovac case.
