(source: SME)
The decision is still not valid however and the prosecutor can appeal it, General Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Andrea Predajňová told the Sme daily.
The prosecutor is the first of two whom General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár proposed to punish for their failure in the case last year. The second is still waiting for the proceeding. The case already cost district prosecutor Igor Seneši his post, Sme wrote.
Sme first published the images, which show the youths kicking one victim in the head repeatedly, on January 28, 2014. The incident, which took place in October 2013, was reportedly just one in a series of similar attacks. The victims of the attack were patrons standing in front of the Mariatchi bar in downtown Nitra, a popular student hangout.
Despite having access to the recordings from the town’s street cameras, the police delayed taking any action on the first incident. In the case of the October 2013 attack, the municipal police arrived on the scene shortly after the assault started, detained the alleged culprits and brought them to the police department. The case, however, remained stalled for the next three months.
The prosecutor, who was at service on the day of the attack, was first punished with reproach that she did not write a report on detaining and releasing the suspected attackers. The supervising prosecutor was only rebuked for elementary violation of duties. Čižnár however disagreed with such punishments and ordered the disciplinary committee to deal with the cases.
A review of the botched investigation into the attack has led to punishment for the prosecutors but not for the police officers involved in the case.
The Police Presidium leaders took, however, different attitude to the case and after inspecting the actions of Nitra police officers they said that everything was alright. Also Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák backed the police officers. This means that the ones who made mistakes were prosecutors who should have checked what the police officers were doing, as reported by Sme.
The investigation of the case ended in October 2014. One of the attackers made a deal with prosecutor and was fined with €400. The prosecutor’s office charged the remaining five attackers last November. The Nitra District Court still has not set the date for proceeding, Sme wrote.
