SPEAKER of Parliament Pavol Paška is not talking about moving the office of Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová from Bratislava to Košice anymore.
“It is not the issue of the day,” Paška’s spokesperson told the Sme daily.
Back in January, Paška said that by moving to the east she will be “closer to the reality” of the region where many Roma live. He said he would submit the proposal to relocate the ombudswoman’s office to the building where also the Constitutional Court is housed at the March parliamentary session, the TASR newswire reported at the time.
Dubovcová considered it a punishment for her efforts to discuss the police crackdown at a Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou, Košice Region, in June 2013, which was raided by 63 police officers. They were purportedly seeking seven men for which they had arrest warrants. They found none of those men, but violence ensued and 15 other Roma were taken to the police station. While police allege they were attacked upon entering the settlement, none of the 15 detained were ever charged with a crime resulting from the clash. Several of the Roma were injured. An NGO active in the settlement, ETP Slovensko, documented the injuries with photographs.
The ombudswoman’s office currently does not have a permanent office space funded by the state, thus she is in rented premises. Dubovcová’s spokeswoman Alena Kuišová confirmed that nobody has contacted them in connection with relocation, either within Bratislava or to other town, Sme wrote.
Source: Sme, TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
