Interior Minister Daniel Lipšic (KDH) said on July 10 that he will insist on a thorough investigation into police activities regarding an attack on Nitra regional councilor László Basternak (an ethnic-Hungarian) in March and his murder in Hurbanovo in Nitra region on the evening of Friday, July 9, the TASR newswire reported.
Basternak was murdered by an unknown person in front of his house in Hurbanovo. This was not the first attack on the former mayor of Hurbanovo, who was serving as chief supervisor of the regional authority at the time of his death. An unknown assailant attempted to kill him in March as he was taking his dog for a walk; missing him and hitting the gate of his house.
Basternak claimed that the incident was obviously related to his political activities. He said, as reported by the TASR newswire, that he had been receiving threatening letters for some time, and announced that he would ask the police for protection. Lipšic said, however, that Basternak refused protection after he was told that it would limit his freedom of movement.
The police have arrested a person as a suspect in this murder, news-portal cas.sk reported on Sunday. The police were unwilling to provide details and Police Corps president Ján Packa would only tell private television channel Markíza that the police will provide more information at a press conference on July 12. Local citizens told TV Markíza that the murder may be related more to Basternak's business activities than to his political life.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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