The criminal prosecution against former Police Corps President Jaroslav Spišiak was a display of bullying and intimidation while its cancellation is a sign of buck-passing, NOVA party leader Daniel Lipšic said on March 18.
Lipšic, acting in the capacity of Spišiak’s legal representative, was speaking after aktualne.sk website reported that the prosecution against Spišiak had been stopped. General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO) spokeswoman Andrea Predajňová told the TASR newswire that it was determined that rather than a crime, Spišiak had committed an infraction.
Such infractions are usually dealt with by district offices, rather than courts, and may result in a fine. A statute of limitations of two years applies in such cases, which means that Spišiak can’t face any penalty for what was concluded to be a minor civil infraction dating from 2011.
Three members of the Office for Fight against Organised Crime - Ivan Šefčík, Milan Lučanský and Jozef Mičieta - filed a legal complaint against Spišiak in November 2011, claiming that by criticising their work on the case of suspect Karol Mello, Spišiak committed slander. All three of them left the police during the Prime Minister Iveta Radičová’s government, but came back after early election in 2012 which brought Smer back to the helm.
Speaking in parliament on March 18, Lipšic said that Spišiak only told the truth and went on to urge the GPO to take measures against Spišiak if they truly believe he’s guilty of having violated a rule – no matter how petty it was. Spišiak didn’t comment on the issue for aktualne.sk.
(Source: TASR, aktualne.sk)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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