BRATISLAVA, May 19, (WEBNOVINY) — Speaking at an unscheduled news briefing on Thursday, Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic labeled the decisions of Bratislava courts that resulted in Thursday’s release of Karol Mello from custody a slap in the face of justice. He said it is also a slap in the face to the relatives of innocent victims of crimes Karol Mello is accused of. The minister reminded that Karol Mello is accused of organizing a murder, whose victims were an innocent woman and her child. “He had been on the run hiding from justice for several years until we discovered him in Poland last year”. It took law enforcement bodies a long time to get him to Slovakia. Lipsic pointed out that a judge that was deciding against taking Mello into custody was acting outside his competencies. Furthermore, it is absurd that a Regional Court canceled the decision on Mello’s detention and consequently a court rules that the second attempt to take him into custody is a repeated one for the same case, even if the first one was canceled.
Lipsic asked how much longer Slovakia would tolerate such “unlawful acts of some courts”. He also asked whether it was “an intention or negligence”. He hopes the justice minister will take action in this matter. “Also more radical solutions regarding the judicial power are on today’s agenda,” he added. He went on to say that independence of the judiciary is not willfulness, it is not ignorance of laws and that some judges “endanger security of this country”. Independence must go hand in hand with judges’ responsibility, he said.
After this affront to justice, the law enforcement authorities will do their best for justice to win, Lipsic assured. He did not want to provide details on how they want to prevent Karol Mello from fleeing again.
The Justice Ministry is aware of the seriousness of the case, informed Peter Bubla of the ministry’s press department. The justice minister has asked for the respective file to see whether there are reasons for an appellate review. She is prepared to file it if there are reasons for it. She will also potentially examine accountability of judges involved in the case in a standard procedure, Bubla added.
On Thursday, the Bratislava Regional Court released Karol Mello, accused of two murders, from pretrial custody, confirmed the court’s spokesman Pavol Adamciak for SITA news agency. “The Regional Court came to the conclusion that the court of the first instance had not fulfilled the legal requirements set by the Penal Code to repeatedly deprive the accused of personal freedom, as they already released him from custody in the same case. The European arrest warrant lost its validity when the accused was handed over to the court which issued this warrant,” Adamciak added. Mello’s attorney Peter Schmidl told SITA that the court decided according to a proposal of the defense team.
Mello was already released ten days ago, due to procedural errors upon his extradition from Poland as well as in the process of deciding over his custody. He was, however, immediately detained again. Mello filed a complaint, on the basis of which he now was released.
Alleged local Mafia boss Karol Mello has been accused in the case of double murder in the village of Most pri Bratislave that took place in 2004. After successfully hiding for years, Polish police special forces arrested him in a luxurious house near the city of Krakow in October 2010. He lived in Poland under false identity until then.
SITA