The Roundtable of Hungarians in Slovakia (OSMS) group on April 22 announced that it is organising a public gathering in Bratislava on April 30 in support of Hedviga Žáková (née Malinová) who nearly eight years ago “happened to be in the wrong place in the wrong time” and is now facing charges of providing false testimony concerning an alleged attack by Slovak nationalists.
OSMS’s press conference on April 22 also featured representatives of ethnic-Hungarian parties Most-Híd, Béla Bugár, and Party of Hungarian Community (SMK), Guyla Bárdos and László Szigeti.
“We’re remaining in the background. We support the event that is being organised by OSMS,” said Szigeti, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The event is also backed by the Reformed Christian Church, civil organisations such as Csemadok and the Association of Hungarian Parents in Slovakia.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office earlier this month announced that it has pressed charges against Žáková for providing false testimony under oath.
In August 2006, Žáková (who formerly went by the surname Malinová has since married) reported that she had been assaulted on her way to a university exam in Nitra. The police’s findings were released in September 2006, at a press conference by then interior minister Robert Kaliňák and then prime minister Robert Fico (both of whom currently hold the same positions), with Kaliňák stating “it is beyond doubt that the case did not happen”. He presented several pieces of evidence that he said backed his claim, including DNA samples. Kaliňák later went on to denounce her as a “pathological liar”. Žáková was charged in May 2007 with perjury and making false claims. The investigation of the case was closed in January 2014.
Žáková, now a mother of two, has meanwhile moved to Hungarian town of Győr, after she requested and received Hungarian citizenship at the end of 2013.
She adopted the Hungarian citizenship under the provisions of the new Hungarian citizenship legislation in December 2013. Her husband, a Slovak national, is keeping his Slovak citizenship as he has business activities here and commutes from Győr.
General Prosecutor Jaromír Cižnár reacted on April 22 by describing any public statements on her criminal case - whether pronounced by experts or lay persons - as regrettable attempts to influence the judge who is about to decide on the case. Earlier this month, president-elect Andrej Kiska stated that if Žáková is sentenced by a court for providing false testimony to the authorities, he will grant her a pardon, TASR wrote.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
