Milan Andrášik lost 13 kilograms.
photo: ČTK
MILAN Andrášik and Miloš Kocúr, two men found guilty of murdering medical student Ľudmila Cervanová in 1976, are still waiting for written verdicts from the Supreme Court to be delivered before they can proceed with further appeals.
Even though the Supreme Court verdict sending them back to jail was read out on December 4 last year, they still have not received formal confirmation of it, even though they have actually been back in jail for almost two months.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Eva Rupcová told The Slovak Spectator that even though verdicts usually had to be delivered within 30 days, Supreme Court Chief Justice Milan Karabín had approved a request by trial judge Štefan Michalík for an extra month to produce the written version. "It's a complicated case," she said.
Kocúr and Andrášik had two years added to their original 13-year sentences. In passing judgement, Michalík said "the accused are lucky that Slovakia doesn't have the death penalty".
After returning to jail, Andrášik began a hunger strike that lasted 35 days, during which he lost 13 kilograms. He was hospitalized in a prison hospital in Trenčín, but has since been moved back to Leopoldov.
Andrášik, Kocúr and the four other men whose sentences were confirmed on December 4 intend to appeal to the Supreme Court against Michalík's verdict, and then to the Constitutional Court and the International Court in Strasbourg if the verdict is negative. However, they can do nothing so far because they have not received the written verdicts.
"To be able to act we need those verdicts," said defense lawyer Martin Kanás for The Slovak Spectator. "So far my hands are tied."
