... there were several theories concerning the murder of Ernest Valko. (source: TASR)
The murder investigation of famous Slovak lawyer Ernest Valko was officially concluded by police on August 16, with two men – Jozef R. and Jaroslav K. – being accused by police, the SITA newswire wrote. The new head of the national anti-crime unit of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA), Branislav Zurian, thus informed the media on August 21.
Currently, the investigation file is at the General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO), which will decide on further steps.
What happened in 2010?
Valko was allegedly shot at by Jozef R., who hit him with a single bullet – in the chest. Investigators found the gun in a water reservoir close to the town of Pezinok in 2017.
Zurian praised the work of the police. He also ruled out any other motive than robbery: “We checked on several versions, but the most probable one was confirmed: violent robbery,” Zurian noted, as quoted by SITA.
The two robbers to be tried
If convicted, the murderer faces 20 to 25 years in prison, while Jaroslav K. would go to prison for up to 12 years for robbery.
The two defendants claim that they had agreed on robbing Valko’s house in the village of Limbach in October 2010 and planned to commit it in his presence. They subsequently watched the lawyer’s house and his daily routine.
On November 9, 2010, they first let an unknown chemical substance through the window frame, and after Valko returned home and opened the windows to air out the smell, they entered the house.
Jozef R. then shot Valko in the chest, both criminals searching the house, briefcase, took lawyer’s legally possessed gun and left.
Ernest Valko was former chair of the Slovak Constitutional Court, and one of the most influential lawyers who worked on several sensitive cases, according to SITA.
