In the case concerning the alleged phone call between the President of the Supreme Court Štefan Harabin and the gangland boss Baki Sadiki, the Bratislava Regional Court has upheld the verdict of the lower court on September 25. The information was published by the Sme daily only on November 6.
The General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO) has to pay €150,000 to Harabin for having confirmed the authenticity of the record of his phone conversation with Sadiki from 1994.
The case began in 2008 after the former GPO head Dobroslav Trnka publicly confirmed that the transcript of phone conversation between Harabin and Sadiki had been part of their file. The court opined that Trnka infringed Harabin’s rights when statements on the matter were made public.
Lawyer Peter Wilfling of the association Via Iuris told Sme that it will be interesting how the regional court reasoned its decision, as the verdict of the district court was erroneous. He considers the amount involved extremely high.
Harabin had said that the affair with the record of his alleged phone call with Sadiki was media and intelligence game fabricated by the chairman of New Majority-Agreement (NOVA) Daniel Lipšic who as an opposition politician used it in 2008 to support his proposal for recalling Harabin from the post of justice minister.
Lipšic was not available for comment.
The verdict is now effective and cannot be appealed. Neither the regional court, nor the General Prosecutor’s Office have commented on the verdict.
A new trial with Sadiki, who had been sentenced for drug trafficking for 22 years in absentia starts November 7. Harabin has so far not explained what was his relation with Sadiki, admitting only to have known his wife before she had married.
(Source: Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
