HEDVIGA Malinová will undergo another medical exam in the latest twist of a protracted criminal case over alleged ethnic violence. (Since the incident, Malinová has married and now goes by Žáková.)
Malinová, a Hungarian-speaking Slovak citizen, reported that she was assaulted on her way to a university exam in Nitra in August 2006. Police concluded their investigation in September 2006, finding that no attack had occurred.
The announcement was made at a press conference by then (and now current) Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák and Prime Minister Robert Fico, at which Kaliňák said that “it is beyond doubt that the case did not happen”, supporting his assertion with several pieces of what he claimed were evidence, including DNA samples.
Kaliňák later went on to denounce Malinová as a “pathological liar”.
State authorities charged Malinová with perjury in 2007. The case, which has been open since 2007, has recently begun moving again since a new prosecutor was assigned.
Now, she will be examined again to determine her health condition back in 2006. The General Prosecutor’s Office issued a ruling to have Košice-based orthopaedist Boris Lisanský assess her alleged injuries from the alleged 2006 attack.
The original expert opinion by the dean of the Medical Faculty of Comenius University, Peter Labaš, has since been found to be inaccurate. The results of the new exam should be ready by December 22, the Sme daily wrote in its November 5 issue.
Malinová’s lawyer Roman Kvasnica criticised the orthopaedic examination.
“They made a right step in the wrong direction, because it is professionally out of the question that an orthopaedist should evaluate the diagnostics of neurologists or traumatologists,” Kvasnica told Sme.
The prosecutor for the case argued that orthopaedics intersects at many points with surgery and traumatology, Sme reported.
The prosecution is also awaiting an evaluation by psychiatrists and psychologists of Malinová’s mental state.
