Vienna Judge Sends Misenka to Pre-trial Custody

Bratislava/Vienna, July 4 (TASR) - Convicted Slovak criminal Viliam Misenka, who was detained by Austrian Police in Baden near Vienna on Thursday (July 2), will be placed into the pre-trial custody as per a decision by a judge of the Regional Court in Vienna on Saturday, court's vice-president Christina Salzborn told TASR on the same day. The pre-trial custody precedes Misenka's extradition to Slovak authorities. "More detailed information regarding the length of the extradition proceedings or whether it will be public isn't known at the moment," added Salzborn. Misenka was arrested on the street at about 3.15 p.m. on the basis of a European arrest warrant. He didn't resist, spokesman for the Austrian Federal Criminal Office Vincenz Kriegs told TASR on Friday (July 3). According to Kriegs, close cooperation with the Slovak authorities provided the Austrians with information that Misenka was lying low either in Baden or Vienna. Slovak police officers made it clear that he was hiding at a relative's home. Misenka was sentenced to 23 years in prison by the Supreme Court in March 2018 regarding an explosion at a company called Euromont based in Topolcany (Nitra district) that took place in the summer of 2009. One person was killed in the blast and others suffered serious and minor injuries. Misenka wasn't present at the Supreme Court to hear the verdict. The police subsequently announced that he was on the run and that they were searching for him. This was the second time that the police have had to look for Misenka. He went on the lam once before, but was tracked down in Venezuela in 2013 and escorted back to Slovakia, where he spent almost two years in custody. In the past he's also been charged with a number of homicides and with a major bank robbery in 1996, but the courts were unable to prove his guilt. ko