Marian Kočner leaving the court (source: TASR)
The Supreme Court was expected to hold an appellate procedure in the case of the forged promissory notes for the next two days, but had to eventually adjourn to January 12 and 13, 2021.
The reason is that one of the defendants, Pavol Rusko, did not arrive to the court. He claimed to be in the hospital after allegedly being attacked with an unknown liquid while jogging.
Lawyer Marek Para suggested that a separate proceeding would be held with Rusko, and that only another defendant, Marian Kočner, would be present.
However, Rusko did not want the proceeding to be held in his absence.
Both Rusko and Kočner were already sentenced to 19 years in prison in late February for forging promissory notes, which Kočner used to obtain €69 million from the current owner of private broadcaster TV Markíza in 2016. Kočner was also ordered to pay a fine of €10,000.
Prosecutor Ján Šanta originally demanded 20 years in prison for both and a fine of €300,000 for Kočner. Šanta appealed the verdict, and so did the two defendants.
Obstruction questioned
On December 15 Šanta doubted that Rusko had been injured, but added that he was not surprised by such step.
“I believe the date will not change anymore,” Šanta said when leaving the courtroom, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The Supreme Court now has to check whether Rusko was really unable to come to the hearing. If an obstruction is confirmed, the prosecutor will see a reason to take Rusko into custody. At the same time, the police will check whether Rusko was actually attacked.
Para said that they submitted all documents to the court.
“It is the first apology of my client, not an obstruction from my point of view,” he said, as quoted by TASR.
