Supreme Court Hands Down Life Sentence to Lalis for Mafia-related Murders

Bratislava, 27 January (TASR) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced Robert 'Bucket' Lalis, former boss of the 'Sykorovci' crime gang, to a cumulative life sentence for mafia-related murders, thus overturning part of the first-instance court's ruling from September of last year, when Lalis was sentenced to 25 years in prison, TASR reported on the same day. In doing so, the court upheld an appeal by a prosecutor seeking life imprisonment. Conversely, Lalis's appeal to have the verdict annulled and the case returned to the first-instance court was dismissed by the Supreme Court. The verdict delivered by the Supreme Court is final, placing Lalis in a maximum-security prison and imposing the forfeiture of assets. At the beginning of September of last year, the Specialised Criminal Court (STS) sentenced the mafia boss to 25 years in a maximum-security prison. The court also ordered the forfeiture of assets and the obligation to pay some of the damages claimed by the victims, with the remainder of their claims to be sought in civil proceedings. STS acquitted Lalis of a charge involving serious fraud. The sentence of 25 years in prison was appealed against by prosecutor Peter Kysel, who argued that the criteria for a life sentence had been met, as well as by Lalis's lawyer Marek Para, who claimed that there were multiple errors in the verdict and prior proceedings. Lalis was originally sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018, along with another member of the gang, Ivan Cuper, and others. In March 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the life sentence, citing violation of the law as the reason. Lalis had been prosecuted while in custody. Sykorovci gang members faced charges of six murders dating back to 1998-99 - of Eduard and Robert Dinic, Roman Deak, Alojz Hazy, Daler Hlavacka and Milos Piliar - and the crime of founding, running and supporting an organised criminal group. Lalis denied his guilt on multiple occasions. jrg/df