FOLLOWING an investigation, the General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO) said that a June police raid on a Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou should be prosecuted.
“There is a reason to launch criminal prosecution,” Andrea Predajňová, spokeswoman of the GPO, said, as quoted by the Sme daily in its December 18 issue.
The case was sent to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Prešov which, however, did not answer for Sme whether it will prosecute the police officers involved.
On June 19, 63 police officers raided the Roma settlement informally named Budulovská, purportedly seeking seven men for which they had arrest warrants. They found none of those men, but violence ensued and 15 other Roma were taken to the police station. While police allege they were attacked upon entering the 800-person settlement, none of the 15 detained were ever charged with a crime resulting from the clash.
Several of the Roma were injured, and at least one of them contends that he underwent two more severe beatings at the police station itself. A second alleges he left the station bleeding from his rectum. An NGO active in the settlement, ETP Slovensko, documented the injuries with photographs.
The review by the Interior Ministry did not find any flaws in the tactics deployed by police. Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová then got engaged in the case and wrote a report which was rejected in parliament. Both the European Union and the UN are interested in the case, Sme wrote.
Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák reacted to the GPO step by claiming he was glad, as the investigation will confirm who is politicising the case and lying. He added, as reported by the SITA newswire, that Dubovcová has been lying and misleading in the long term, as her report is based on testimonies of people who violated public order.
