Upholding Legality on a Global Scale’: Slovakia’s Prosecutor General Defends Moscow Visit, Receives Lifetime Rent

Slovakia’s ruling coalition has awarded Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka a lifetime monthly rent exceeding €5,000, even if he leaves office early—a move critics denounce as payment for shielding powerful allies from prosecution, undermining judicial independence, and aligning Slovakia’s top legal authority with Kremlin interests. Known for annulling corruption cases involving ruling party figures and for opposing NATO-aligned defence cooperation with the United States, Žilinka further alarmed observers by travelling to Moscow in January 2022—after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—to sign a bilateral pact with EU-sanctioned Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, declaring the visit a necessary act in the global defence of legality.

On Thursday 27 March, Slovakia’s ruling coalition passed a measure granting a lifetime monthly rent exceeding €5,000 to the country’s Prosecutor General, Maroš Žilinka. The financial entitlement applies even if Žilinka fails to complete his term in office. Critics from the democratic opposition swiftly condemned the decision, branding it a politically motivated reward and questioning whether it signals a prearranged deal for Žilinka’s early departure. Opposition MP Mária Kolíková argued that the lifetime rent appears to be “thanks for his silence” on the government’s controversial criminal code overhaul. Progressive Slovakia’s Branislav Vančo suggested the payment may compensate Žilinka for relinquishing ambitions to lead the Constitutional Court—an accusation Žilinka denied, though he offered no comment on the rent itself.

Criminal investigations collapse under prosecutorial review

Žilinka’s tenure has been marked by controversy, particularly over his repeated deployment of Paragraph 363 of the Slovak Criminal Procedure Code. This provision allows the Prosecutor General to annul police and prosecutorial decisions if legal violations are found. While Žilinka claims his office uses the paragraph sparingly and within legal bounds, investigative reporting reveals that its application has disproportionately benefited individuals entangled in high-profile corruption and abuse-of-power cases—many of them politically connected to the current governing coalition.

Since January 2021, Žilinka has used Paragraph 363 to overturn charges in at least 29 politically sensitive cases. Beneficiaries include Robert Fico and Robert Kaliňák—both senior figures in the ruling SMER party—who had been indicted in connection with an alleged criminal network misusing state apparatuses against political rivals. The General Prosecutor’s Office dropped charges on grounds often seen as technicalities, such as insufficiently defined timelines or procedural errors.

Other notable cases include the annulment of bribery and corruption charges against prominent businessmen like Jaroslav Haščák of the Penta financial group and oligarch Norbert Bödör, as well as political figures including Tibor Gašpar, former police chief and SMER parliamentary candidate. The pattern reveals a consistent trend: Paragraph 363 under Žilinka has become a shield for political and economic elites, undermining the authority of the Special Prosecutor’s Office tasked with addressing Slovakia’s most severe corruption cases.

Žilinka amplifies disputed Russian narratives

Beyond domestic legal controversies, Žilinka has raised eyebrows over his foreign policy positioning—particularly his deference to Russia. In 2022, he sided publicly with the Russian Embassy in a fabricated scandal over alleged desecration of graves at a war cemetery in eastern Slovakia. Though an investigation later confirmed no crimes had occurred, Žilinka had accused local officials of a “shameful and unacceptable act,” echoing Russian talking points. The incident was widely regarded by experts and security services as an instance of Russian disinformation, yet Žilinka never retracted his statements.

This pattern of alignment with Russian narratives stands in contrast to Slovakia’s commitments as a NATO and EU member state. At a time when democratic resilience hinges on clear opposition to foreign interference, Žilinka’s posture has deepened suspicions that he is not merely passive, but actively enabling Kremlin interests within Slovak institutions.

Žilinka travelles to Moscow to honour its judiciary

Žilinka’s alignment with Russian interests extended beyond rhetoric into foreign policy interventions that further blurred the boundaries of his office. In early 2022, he publicly attacked a defence cooperation agreement (DCA) between Slovakia and the United States—an apolitical, technical accord already signed by all NATO eastern flank countries. Žilinka’s office submitted 35 objections, many unrelated to prosecutorial jurisdiction, including conspiratorial suggestions that the agreement could pave the way for U.S. nuclear weapons to be stationed in Slovakia. Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď dismissed 27 of the objections as outside the Prosecutor General’s mandate, accusing Žilinka of “preparing the ground” for his controversial trip to Moscow.

Just days after these objections, Žilinka travelled to Russia to mark the 300th anniversary of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office on 13 January 2022, where he appeared alongside Igor Krasnov—sanctioned by the EU for his role in the prosecution of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Despite widespread domestic criticism, Žilinka proceeded to sign a bilateral cooperation agreement with Krasnov’s office. While he defended his visit as “necessary and beneficial” to protect the rule of law globally, critics saw it as a symbolic gesture of affinity with authoritarianism—one that further undermined Slovakia’s commitment to Euro-Atlantic values at a time of heightened geopolitical tension.

In his public statement from Moscow, Žilinka presented the visit as a professional duty. “I see the opportunity to represent the Slovak Prosecutor General’s Office at this celebration not only as a chance to reflect on the past, but above all to learn from it and identify challenges for the future development of prosecutorial institutions,” he wrote. “I reject black-and-white views of the world, and I consider personal contact and communication with the heads of partner prosecutor’s offices abroad, including the Russian Federation, necessary and beneficial to achieve the shared goal of upholding legality on a global scale.” While framed as neutral diplomacy, the symbolism of his attendance—amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine—amplified concerns that the Slovak Prosecutor General no longer acts in alignment with the country’s democratic allies.

Judicial credibility at stake amid political concessions

Žilinka’s legacy is increasingly seen as emblematic of institutional capture. His use of legal mechanisms to neutralise accountability in elite corruption cases—and his silence or complicity in matters of national disinformation—place him at odds with democratic norms. The recent decision to grant him a lucrative lifetime benefit, even in anticipation of his early departure, reinforces concerns that the Slovak government is consolidating control over the judiciary in exchange for political loyalty.

The Prosecutor General has denied political motivations behind his actions, claiming decisions are made “regardless of name or status.” Nonetheless, the empirical record, spanning over two dozen dismissed high-level cases, suggests otherwise. The public financing of his post-tenure comfort, at a time of proclaimed fiscal consolidation, raises pressing questions about the integrity of democratic institutions and the direction of Slovakia’s rule-of-law trajectory.