Slovakia settles lawsuit with Czech leader over secret police collaboration

In a significant legal development, Slovakia's Interior Ministry settled a lawsuit affirming that former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis did not knowingly work with the communist-era secret police, known as the StB, during Czechoslovakia's existence. The dispute, which dates back to 2012, centered around documents suggesting Babis might have been a secret agent under the alias 'Bures' from 1982, an allegation he vehemently denied. The Constitutional Court of Slovakia had previously intervened, ruling that the lawsuit should go against the Interior Ministry rather than the Institute for National Memory, which holds some of Babis's secret police files. Several documents were lost over time, complicating the case. The settlement concluded a prolonged period of contention regarding Babis's alleged connections to the StB, a sensitive subject in Slovakia and the Czech Republic due to their shared communist past. Following the resolution, Babis expressed relief and confidence in ultimately winning the case, emphasizing that he never worked with the secret police and has always maintained his innocence against the accusations that have lingered over his political career.