The Supreme Court supported sentenced barrister

THE SUPREME Court accepted the appeal of lawyer Pavol Polakovič who was found guilty eight years ago of having tried to bribe his colleague on November 10. The ruling means that the appellate senate will now have to decide again about the ruling issued by the Specialised Criminal Court, the Sme daily reported in its November 12 issue.

THE SUPREME Court accepted the appeal of lawyer Pavol Polakovič who was found guilty eight years ago of having tried to bribe his colleague on November 10. The ruling means that the appellate senate will now have to decide again about the ruling issued by the Specialised Criminal Court, the Sme daily reported in its November 12 issue.

The court also ruled that a lawyer cannot collaborate with police as an agent, the daily wrote.

Polakovič got a conditional sentence of two years for trying to bribe his colleague, lawyer Mária Mešencová, so that she makes her client testify to the benefit of his client. Mešencová, however, started to cooperate with the police as an agent, which resulted in the case being discussed by the court.

Except for ordering the judges to deal again with Polakovič’s appeal against the original verdict, the senate of Milan Deák ruled that the lawyer cannot cooperate with the police as an agent, which in fact questioned the whole evidence available, as reported by Sme.

Neither the special prosecutor nor Polakovič commented on the case.

If the main evidence provided by the lawyer does not get used, it is possible he will be released and he will even be able to ask for compensation from the state, Sme wrote.

The Supreme Court started to deal with the case after Polakovič succeeded at the Constitutional Court three years ago. The court ruled that the Supreme Court violated his rights, since it had not properly dealt with the appeal. For example, it found it problematic that one of the judges who were deciding about the appeal was Juraj Majchrák who called himself biased, but bribed, as reported by Sme.

The court, however, saw no problem in using Mešencová as an agent. The only one who had a different opinion was Milan Ľalík. He said that it is better for the work of advocacy if its members are not agents than if they are used to reveal the crimes. Deák’s senate adopted this stance, Sme wrote.

Source: Sme

Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports

The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.

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