Angry Slovak PM Rejects Questions on Media Ban

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar angrily rebuffed questions in parliament on Thursday over his controversial cancellation of government news conferences. Mečiar, who on Wednesday abolished weekly government briefings citing low journalistic standards, also refused to comment on who his new adviser was and whether he had made a trip to Russia last week. "Enough. You have no right to ask these questions. Answer them yourselves," Mečiar said angrily, gesticulating at the parliamentary deputies. He then abruptly left the speaker`s podium. The ban includes news conferences with government participation during visits by foreign dignitaries unless diplomatic protocol requires it. The measures take effect immediately. Opposition deputy Roman Kováč said Mečiar`s media ban was illegal. "This is a violation of the constitutional right of citizens to gain free information," Kováč said. The ban followed a regular government news conference in which reporters grilled a government spokeswoman about the role of Blažena Martinková, deputy head of the election committee of Mečiar`s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), who recently took part in a meeting with the prime minister and Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima. Government spokeswoman Ľudmila Buláková had refused to specify what advisory position Martinková held, saying she specialised in "several fields". "She is a lady in the true sense of the word who literally puts her everything in the service of the country," Mečiar told opposition deputy Július Brocka who had asked him about Martinková`s status. "I consider it an honour that she works for me," he said, and refused further comment. Mečiar also declined to say anything about an alleged trip to Moscow last Friday together with Ivan Lexa, a close aide and head of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS). In recent months, Slovakia has attracted a barrage of criticism from the European Union, NATO and the United States for alleged shortcomings in the democratic process.