THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE has dropped its charges against Viliam M. in the case of the murder of Peter Čongrády and for his membership in an organised criminal group, the Čas.sk website reported on December 5. Though the police released him on the same day, he was detained again and charged with a new crime.
In addition to Viliam M., the prosecutor also halted its prosecution against Ľuboš F., Roland Z., Karol M. and Štefan B., Čas.sk wrote. The main reason was new testimony in the case, based on which police detained different people. The new findings indicate that the primary motives for Čongrády’s murder involved land and the construction of a shopping centre on the Danube riverbank. Investigators previously believed he was killed for stealing money from Všeobecná Úverová Banka in Nitra back in 1996, the TASR newswire wrote.
The prosecutor’s decision confirmed that his client was not in Slovakia at the time the murder took place, Igor Cibula, Viliam M.’s lawyer, told the SITA newswire. According to him, the recent development in the case proves that the police’s key witness was lying.
The Nový Čas daily reported earlier this year that at the time Čongrády was killed, Viliam M. was in China, which was proven by the stamp in his passport and a police report confirming that he had left the country.
Viliam M. now faces charges for murdering Jozef Gudáb, but Cibula said that this case is very similar to the one of Čongrády, explaining that this accusation is also based on the testimony of the same witness, as reported by SITA. Gudáb was killed in Bojná, Topoľčany district, in 2003.
The General Prosecutor’s Office has not yet announced whether it will have Viliam M. remanded into custody for the murder, SITA wrote.
Viliam M. was first detained in February when he was deported to Slovakia from Venezuela. He faces several charges, but prosecutors have already dropped the charges concerning the robbery in Všeobecná Úverová Banka in Nitra and the case of the murder of his nephew, the Čas.sk wrote in June 2006.
Source: Čas.sk, SITA, TASR
For more information about this story please see: Five bank robbers sent to jail
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
