Pavol Rusko (source: SME)
The Bratislava regional prosecutor’s office has brought charges against former economy minister and former CEO of the private TV channel Markíza, Pavol Rusko, claiming that he allegedly commissioned the murder of his then-business partner Sylvia Volzová back in 1997.
“The district court received the charges on January 2,” Pavol Adamčiak, spokesperson for the Bratislava II District Court, confirmed to the Denník N daily.
The charges followed the testimony of former mafia boss Mikuláš Černák, who was reportedly a person whom Rusko approached with the order back in 1997. Rusko and Volzová, with whom he co-owned the Markíza Slovakia company which had a licence to run a TV broadcast, were having serious disputes.
Černák, who has promised to give information concerning all the murders he had involvement with, said that he was to have managed Volzová’s abduction during which she allegedly would be forced to transfer her share to Rusko and then later eliminated. The abduction did not actually happen since Černák was detained in December 1997, Denník N wrote.
Rusko was detained at a shopping centre in October 2017. The police and the prosecutor’s office requested that he be held in custody but the court decided to put him under house arrest with his whereabouts monitored via an electronic bracelet, Denník N reported.
He tried to overturn the charges when he summoned a press conference on December 17, also attended by his lawyer Marek Para. He said he was innocent and had no reason to kill Volzová, the daily wrote.
