Prosecutor Who Charged Interior Minister Kaliňák Now Under Investigation Herself

The Slovak prosecutor who formally charged Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák is now herself the subject of a criminal investigation, in a development that has drawn sharp criticism from legal observers and opposition figures. The supervising prosecutor, who had been overseeing the case against Kaliňák, refused to continue working on the matter after receiving what she described as instructions from above — directives she considered improper interference in the prosecution. Her refusal to comply with those orders appears to have triggered the investigation now targeting her. Robert Kaliňák is a senior figure in Smer-SD, the ruling left-nationalist party led by Prime Minister Robert Fico. Kaliňák has served multiple terms as interior minister and is one of the most powerful figures in the current government. His prosecution represented a significant legal challenge to the ruling coalition. The case against him has been politically contentious, with the government repeatedly questioning the independence and motives of prosecutors handling politically sensitive investigations. The sequence of events — a prosecutor charges a senior government minister, receives orders from superiors she deems inappropriate, refuses to follow them, and is then placed under investigation herself — raises serious concerns about the independence of Slovakia's prosecution service. Critics warn the case illustrates a pattern of institutional pressure being used to shield government officials from criminal accountability, at a time when Slovakia's democratic institutions are already under international scrutiny.