THE PROSECUTION has erred in certain aspects of dealing with the case of a group of neo-Nazis who attacked the owner and patrons of the Mariatchi bar in Nitra last year, General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár admitted on February 3, after his meeting with the Nitra regional and district prosecutors.
“The regional prosecutor was ordered to take appropriate action within his authority,” General Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Andrea Predajňová said, as quoted by the SITA newswire, adding that they will inform about the results.
A Nitra prosecutor ruled on January 30 to free five men accused in the attack from October 2013 only two days after they were detained. They were only detained after the media reported on the attack three months after it occurred, which was captured by a city security camera.
Police are dealing with two incidents involving the pub, its customers and its owner. The first incident dates back to October 5, when five suspected neo-Nazis assaulted the pub's customers, some of whom sustained serious injuries in the attack.
The second incident, on January 1, 2014, involved an attack against the pub's owner, who ended up with a broken leg. The alleged perpetrators of the first attack were taken into custody last week, only to be released by Nitra District Prosecutor a day and a half later. This prompted Čižnár to seek an explanation from the authorities in Nitra, the TASR newswire wrote.
Two other men - also alleged members of a local neo-Nazi grouping - who are said to have taken part in a second attack were charged without being detained at all. Two of the victims were beaten unconscious in the October incident, and the faces of the assailants (some of whom ran under the slate of Marian Kotleba's extremist People’s Party-Our Slovakia in the 2012 general election) are clearly visible in the security footage of the attack.
Last week Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák defended the delayed procedures of the police, indicating that moving too hastily could undermine the seriousness of the injuries and result in lighter penalties for the perpetrators, TASR wrote.
Source: SITA, TASR
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
