Kubina: Court Rejects Bid to Halt Distraint against Interior Minister

Banska Bystrica/Bratislava, 2 February (TASR) – The district court in Banska Bystrica has rejected a request to halt the distraint proceedings against Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) in his dispute with the group of police investigators centered around Jan Curilla, and the interior minister must also reimburse the group's legal costs, their lawyer, Peter Kubina, has reported on social media. Kubina added that the court ruled on Friday, 30 January. According to the attorney, the minister argued that he'd filed a motion to have the judgment set aside. "As we have repeatedly pointed out in responses to media questions, a motion to set aside a default judgment does not have the effect of suspending a judgment's finality and enforceability, and so it isn't a lawful reason even to postpone distraint, let alone stop it. As expected, the distraint court has confirmed this conclusion," he said. Kubina said he was struck by part of the minister's argumentation. According to the lawyer, the minister told the court that he is a interior minister who has repeatedly publicly expressed disagreement with the activities and steps of the investigators around Jan Curilla. In the minister’s view, this should have made it clear to the court that is he had been aware of the dispute, he would have actively defended himself. Kubina added that this again appeared to be an attempt to seek privilege. "It needs to be repeated once more that there are no privileges before a court, only equality before the law. It is, and must be, entirely irrelevant to the court what a party says or shares on social media. A court can and must proceed and decide solely on the basis of what a party does and submits in court proceedings," he said. Kubina added that Sutaj Estok's defence has cost the minister about €20,000 so far. mf/df