Former police chief Milan Lučanský. (source: TASR)
In a definitive statement, the General Prosecutor’s Office has said that prison officers did not commit any wrongdoing in the high-profile case of former police chief Milan Lučanský, who tragically died in prison nearly four years ago.
Lučanský, arrested on charges of corruption and organised crime, took his own life in December 2020 while in custody at the Prešov prison. Earlier investigations by the Justice Ministry, the police inspectorate, and the regional prosecutor’s office in Prešov all confirmed that Lučanský’s death was a suicide. The recent review by the police inspectorate and the General Prosecutor’s Office corroborates these findings, affirming that no negligence or intentional misconduct by prison staff contributed to his death, as reported by Aktuality.sk.
“The prosecutor of the General Prosecutor’s Office, after reviewing the case, did not find that any member of the Prison and Court Guard Service committed any illegal intentional or negligent act, which would have resulted in the death of General Milan Lučanský while in custody,” the General Prosecutor’s Office told the news website.
Review responds to complaint
Lučanský took the helm as interim police chief in June 2018, stepping in for Tibor Gašpar—now an accused Smer MP and deputy speaker of parliament—just months after the shocking murders of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in February 2018. The opposition and NGOs at the time saw little difference between Gašpar and Lučanský. His tenure lasted until August 2020 when the OĽaNO-led government, which replaced the Smer-led cabinet following the February 2020 elections, chose to remove him from his post.
The latest review, which confirms that prison officers did not violate any regulations, is a response to a complaint lodged last year by the family of General Lučanský through their lawyer, former nationalist MEP Miroslav Radačovský.
Even though the official consensus remains that it was a suicide, Slovak National Party MP Adam Lučanský, the ex-police official’s son, continues to dispute these findings. He is not the only one.
Smer has doubts
The Smer-led government has reignited scrutiny over the actions of prison guards, continuing to cast doubt on their performance when it comes to the Lučanský case. In a brochure on the alleged “hijacking of justice” by previous administrations, published after Smer’s electoral victory last September, the Justice Ministry highlighted alleged failures in the supervision of Lučanský in custody.
“Yes, we have doubts because there are various pieces of information or facts that may not have been sufficiently clarified, or there are doubts about how they were clarified,” Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer) said about the case earlier this year.
Despite plans to reopen the contentious Lučanský case—a frequent focal point for the government— the ruling coalition has failed to fulfil its promise to the people to date.
