The defendant Juraj Bugár, alias Bugi, at the hearing of the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok on 26 September 2022. (source: TASR - Ondrej Hercegh)
More than two decades after René Sánka vanished, the Supreme Court has closed a chilling chapter in the country’s criminal history, confirming the guilt of three men for his murder — a killing ordered, prosecutors say, to silence a witness who knew too much.
Sánka, 25, disappeared in May 2001. At the time, police issued a detailed description: a nearly two-metre-tall athletic man with a dragon tattoo, a limp from a car crash, damaged teeth, and a long scar down one arm. The manhunt proved fruitless. Sánka was already dead — killed, the court has now ruled, by members of the ruthless Sátor gang, reports the daily Hospodárske Noviny.
The Supreme Court this week upheld lower court verdicts against Roland Szamaránszky, Pavol Vlčko and Juraj Bugár, dismissing all appeals. The trio — already convicted for other violent crimes linked to the gang — must now also serve sentences of between 21 and 25 years for Sánka’s murder. They have also been ordered to pay compensation to the victim’s family: €50,000 to his daughter, who was three at the time of his disappearance, and €10,000 to his mother.
