THE NITRA District Court rejected charges against Hedviga Malinová-Žáková, pertaining to her alleged perjury concerning her beating in summer 2006.
The General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO) filed the charge, but the district court recently dismissed it, the Sme daily wrote on December 30, citing a violation of defendant’s rights: the file was not translated into Hungarian; and ethnic Hungarian Malinová-Žáková moved to Hungary, and is a Hungarian citizen since December 2013.
The court sent a request to the GPO, for the charge to be translated in November. The General Prosecutor’s Office refused, arguing that after having filed the charge, it is no longer entitled to issue decisions.
The GPO has appealed against the latest Nitra court’s verdict, Office’s spokeswoman Andrea Predajňová told the TASR newswire, adding that the respective prosecutor challenged the ruling, finding it unlawful and biased. Following the prosecutor’s decision to appeal against the district court verdict, the case will now be dealt with by Nitra Regional Court. This can last for months, Sme pointed out.
Malinová-Žáková is an ethnic Hungarian who reported to have been attacked in August 2006 after two men overheard her speaking Hungarian on the phone. Some men were investigated in connection with this incident, but not prosecuted, and the police closed the case in September 2006, concluding that the attack did not take place at all; rather, it was determined that Malinová-Žáková should be charged with perjury and she was charged in early April 2014. [She formerly went by the surname Malinová but has since married.]
(Source: Sme, TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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