BRATISLAVA, October 26, (WEBNOVINY) — The dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University in Bratislava Peter Labas who is the author of the expert opinion in the still pending case of Hedviga Malinova-Zakova from five years ago testified for over three hours at the Prosecutor General Office on Wednesday. Roman Kvasnica, the defense lawyer of the ex-student who has since married and is now called Zakova was present at the questioning as well. The former student stands accused of perjury as the police investigators insist that she made up the story of how she was beaten on her way to her university in Nitra five years ago by a duo of yet unknown perpetrators because she spoke Hungarian on her mobile phone. The expert opinion prepared by Labas questions original conclusions of doctors who examined the student instantly after she was allegedly assaulted. Labas states in his expert testimony that the student might have caused her injuries herself. Kvasnica did not specify whether he succeeded to doubt the expert opinion but he confirmed that he had prepared 200 questions for Labas. The lawyer said that the answers he received were very general. He pointed at several extremely complicated issues that he thinks the other side will not be able to remove.
Kvasnica said that he would be first of all interested in who of the experts of the Faculty of Medicine is responsible for which part of the expert opinion, as according to him he met general reluctance to speak about it. Kvasnica says that some doctors who reportedly participated in the elaboration of the expert opinion told media in the past that Labas only consulted with them and they did not agree with some of his conclusions in the expert testimony. Kvasnica said that Labas had told him that all persons whom he cited in the expert opinion really participated in its elaboration. “It will be necessary to question them,” said Kvasnica. Kvasnica insists he wants to know the author of each sentence in the expert’s opinion to know who would eventually bear legal responsibility.
Labas however did not want to speak about this testimony today. He advised SITA to turn to Kvasnica instead. “He will tell you everything,” he said. The Prosecutor General Office is tight-lipped about this matter, too.
Kvasnica alleges that a big game is being played in the Malinova case. He maintains that law-enforcement bodies did not work on the case for thirty months. According to him if it was not for their inactivity, the case could have been closed already long ago. He finds the situation a shame of the Slovak judiciary being the result of political bargaining of a few people at the Prosecutor General Office. “I think that what they do is illegal,“ he said. The lawyer wants to know the background of the case and why five years were not enough to arrive to a decision. He insists that human rights and freedoms of his client have been violated. Kvasnica added that he proposed at least five times to question all people working for MP Peter Gabura (KDH) at the critical time when a criminal motion was filed against Hedviga Malinova because it was one of Gabura’s assistants or aides who had filed a criminal complaint based on which Malinova was prosecuted later. Kvasnica said that he proposed to question all persons who worked there including the wife of ex-Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka who had also worked there. On the other hand Kvasnica admits that it was a pleasant surprise to him when the prosecutor showed willingness to question psychiatrists in whose care Malinova was after the attack after his requests was ignored for three years.
According to media reports, the Cabinet has accepted an agreement with Malinova based on which she would withdraw her lawsuit from the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg and will not demand compensation from the state in exchange for a public apology. Malinova sued Slovakia due to errors in the investigation of her case, due to which her constitutional rights to a fair trial were violated. Before the beginning of the trial the court asked both sides whether they are willing to reconcile and they ultimately agreed. Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska and Kvasnica signed an out-of-court settlement that is to be sent to Strasbourg. Ex-minister of Interior Robert Kalinak who accused Malinova of having lied shortly after she reported the attack to the police says it is unacceptable that somebody wants to apologize to a person whose lies drew Slovakia into great problems. The Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities, Rudolf Chmel, had already apologized to Malinova last December. Chmel stated that in the case of Malinova the right to a due process had been breached by politicians’ premature intervention in the investigation, and that this had negatively affected her reputation.
SITA