Karol Mello charged in Slovakia for multiple offences and now at large in Belize, has turned to the European Court for Human Rights to stop his prosecution in cases other than the double murder charge, allegedly involving a woman and child, from 2004.
His attorney Peter Schmidl told the Plus jeden deň daily that prosecution in several different cases have not been halted even after six months since a court in Krakow (where Mello was apprehended) issued a ruling according to which Mello cannot be prosecuted on other cases than the 2004 double murder. Schmidl says his client would like to return to Slovakia and defend himself in the double murder case, but is discouraged from doing so by Slovak courts not respecting the Krakow ruling.
Mello, a fugitive who has been charged in Slovakia with organising at least three murders back in 2003 and 2004, was detained by police in Belize police in July 2012, in a police operation organised by Interpol in cooperation with Slovak police. However, Slovakia has no extradition agreement with Belize. After the alleged 2004 murders, in which a woman and a boy were killed, Mello spent several years evading arrest. He was apprehended in Poland in 2010 and extradited to Slovakia. He was then released from custody by the Slovak courts in 2011 (because of procedural errors by a court) and immediately went on the run again.
(Source: Plus jeden deň)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
