RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  23 March 1999

SLOVAK NATIONALIST LEADER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT. Jan
Slota, leader of the Slovak National Party (SNS), is
running for president in the elections scheduled for 15
May, honorary SNS chairman Vitazoslav Moric announced on
22 March. Slota told Radio Twist that if U.S. President
Bill Clinton has a right to remain in office after lying
under oath, his own right to become Slovak president is
at least 200 million times greater. He added that in the
"political emaciation" in which "Hungarians have a
decisive say in our government," it is the duty of the
SNS to do everything "for a nationally oriented
Christian" to become head of state, CTK reported. MS

INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS ACQUITTED IN HUNGARY'S 'BIRCH
TREE' TRIAL. A military court on 22 March acquitted
several former intelligence officers accused of
violating state secrets in connection with the so-called
"Birch Tree Operation." The operation was launched in
1995 to gather information on corruption and organized
crime in the Hungarian-Romanian-Ukrainian border region.
Several Hungarian politicians were mentioned in agents'
reports. Laszlo Foldi, the former deputy head of the
secret services, was dismissed in 1996 for "spying on
politicians." The court acquitted him of that charge,
saying "it would have been wrong for an intelligence
officer to turn a blind eye if a politician's name
turned up." MSZ

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