The Sme daily reported that Slovakia will officially apologise to Hedviga Malinová-Žáková, an ethnic-Hungarian Slovak who five years ago reported to the police that she was assaulted on her way to an exam at her university in Nitra and said it might have occurred because she was heard speaking Hungarian.
Sme reported that the cabinet of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová agreed on September 28 to prepare an apology to her. She had taken her claim of violation of her human rights to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg on the basis of what she called errors during the investigation, Sme wrote.
Before opening its hearing the ECHR asked the parties whether there was the possibility of reaching a settlement which they apparently subsequently agreed on. A document that will be submitted to the court has been signed by Malinová’s lawyer, Roman Kvasnica, and Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská, Sme wrote.
The state made no comments about a possible agreement which should eventually result in Malinová withdrawing her complaint from the court as well as dropping her claims for financial damages. Kvasnica told Sme that he will be satisfied only after the criminal prosecution against Malinová is stopped and the General Prosecutor’s Office undergoes a massive clean-up.
Slovak society has been divided over what happened to Malinová-Žáková. The police claim their investigation into the case involved over 250 officers and interviews with 600 people and led them to conclude that an assault never occurred.
The Új Szo Hungarian-language daily published in Slovakia reported that of all the cabinet ministers, only Interior Minister Daniel Lipšic did not vote to approve the preparation of the document on an out-of-court settlement.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
