SLOVAK POLICE MAKE FIRST CHARGE UNDER TERRORISM LAWS

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000029 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/CE J. MOORE, M. LIBBY SENSITIVE, SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV LO SUBJECT: SLOVAK POLICE MAKE FIRST CHARGE UNDER TERRORISM LAWS REF: BRATISLAVA 007 ¶1. (U) A 33 year-old man from central Slovakia is the first person to be charged under the country's relatively new anti-terrorism laws. According to Police President Jan Packa, who briefed the media on Thursday, January 21, the man had explosives in his home and was planning to blow up a church. He admitted that he wanted to keep people from being influenced by the Catholic Church, which he considers a pernicious social influence. ¶2. (U) The alleged terrorist, whose name has not yet been released, studied pharmacology in a Slovak technical university and has been charged with producing and dealing drugs in the past. It is reported that police found the explosives in October 2009 during a search of his home. ¶3. (SBU) While it is not clear exactly when the suspect confessed to his anti-church campaign, one police source was skeptical about the announcement's timing. With recent scandals for the Slovak police--most notably, one involving a training exercise that put high explosives on a Dublin-bound airliner (reftel)--this source speculated that the police needed a positive news story. EDDINS