Jaroslav Svěchota, plk., JUDr. (September 13, 1941 – November 8, 2004) was the former Deputy Chief of the Slovak

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

and lawyer. Together with

Ivan Lexa Ivan Lexa, Ing. (born August 18, 1961 in Bratislava) is the former head of the Slovak Secret Service from 1995 to 1998. One of the closest allies of the former autocratic Prime Minister of Slovakia Vladimír Mečiar, under Lexa the Secret Service ...

, Svěchota was one of the key figures in the controversial reign of Prime Minister

Vladimír Mečiar Vladimír Mečiar (; born 26 July 1942) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia three times, from 1990 to 1991, from 1992 to 1994 and from 1994 to 1998. He was the leader of the People's Party - Movement for a Democr ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

in the mid-1990s and was an important figure in numerous trials concerning the Secret Service both as witness and defendant. According to newspaper SME he was considered the "gray eminence" of the Slovak Secret Service under Ivan Lexa. All police investigation and trials of Svěchota were stopped after his death.

Career

Svěchota studied law and began his career in the communist Secret Service as an agent, working for the headquarters in Bratislava. Before 1989, he also worked in the Office for protecting democracy ( sk, Úrad na ochranu demokracie). His career in the Slovak Secret Service skyrocketed after

became the Head of the Service. In 1995 Svěchota became the Head of Counter-Intelligence and later the Deputy Chief of the Service, directly under Lexa. After the change of government and after

Mikuláš Dzurinda Mikuláš Dzurinda (; born 4 February 1956) is a Slovak politician who was the prime minister of Slovakia from 30 October 1998 to 4 July 2006. He is the founder and leader of the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) and then the Slovak Democratic a ...

's first government came to power, Svěchota left the Secret Service and became an attorney.

Involvement in Slovak mafia

Svěchota was known to often meet with the boss of Bratislava mafia in the mid-1990s, Miroslav Sýkora. Rumors suggest that it was Svěchota who gave Sýkora the order to assassinate Róbert Remiáš. He also knew Sýkora's successor Peter Steinhübel a.k.a. Žaluď and had good understanding with Mikuláš Černák, boss of mafia in Banská Bystrica and allegedly the boss of

Slovak mafia The Slovak mafia constitutes various organized crime groups in Slovakia, controlled primarily by Slovak interests. The Slovak mafia does not have significant international presence and, even in Slovakia, their activities are limited by boundaries ...

at that time.

Investigations and trials

After the Head of Slovak Secret Service Vladimír Mitro delivered an address to the Slovak Parliament, investigations of numerous crimes committed by the Secret Service in the past start, most including Svěchota. He spent several months in prison in 1999. Shortly before his death he was found guilty of embezzlement of 276,000

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

and he was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Svěchota, however, appealed to the Highest Court of Slovakia which failed to decide the case before his death. All trials were stopped afterwards. He gave testimony in the cases of

Kidnapping of the Slovak President's son In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the ...

Assassination of Róbert Remiáš The assassination of Róbert Remiáš took place on April 29, 1996, in Karlova Ves, Bratislava, Slovakia. Remiáš, an ex-police officer, was one of the key figures in the trial against Slovak Information Service in the case of the kidnapping of ...

and many more.

Health

Svěchota had serious health problems for several years. He was hospitalised in Kramáre Hospital in Bratislava one month before his death and he was supposed to undergo a spine surgery. In the past, Svěchota has survived several heavy

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

s and also clinical death. He was observed by journalists to look very unhealthy when attending his numerous trials at courts.

References

External links