STS: PM Fico's Adviser David L. Stands Trial, Says He's Innocent

Banska Bystrica, 13 February (TASR) - The main trial of Prime Minister Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) adviser and former judge David L. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] has commenced at the Specialised Criminal Court (STS) in Banska Bystrica, TASR reported on Friday. He is charged with the crime of interfering with judicial independence, as well as the misdemeanour of indirect corruption while he served as head of Bratislava III District Court. According to the defence, the indictment is unfounded and unlawful. David L. stated that he's innocent, and he refused to accept a plea bargain, claiming that the acts that he's been charged with didn't take place. He said that he's being criminalised for political reasons and that appearing in court as a defendant is a new situation for him. David L. also outlined his professional career, from his early days as a junior prosecutor, through his tenure as head of a Bratislava district court between 2015 and 2019, to the present. Later on, he interrupted his testimony and said that he would continue after the witnesses had been heard. "Since being detained for the first time, I have maintained that these acts did not take place. I'm in a difficult position because the charges refer to 'an unidentified time' and 'an unidentified place' ... The former Special Prosecutor's Office (USP) put the charges this way to deny the possibility of a defence. The prosecutor didn't present any evidence in the pre-trial proceedings to prove the claims made by two cooperating defendants," stated David L. He added that USP and the National Crime Agency (NAKA) took a liking to an approach in which "someone said something about you ten years ago and there's practically no way to defend yourself". The first witness, former judge Miriam Repakova, who was detained as part of Operation Storm and convicted for the crime of distorting the law, refused to testify on Friday to avoid potential criminal prosecution. She claimed that as it's been a long time, she no longer remembers the events and, for health reasons, she must avoid stressful situations. Her testimony from the pre-trial proceedings was therefore read out. Among the witnesses is another former judge, Vladimir Sklenka, who has testified in several cases involving suspicions that court decisions have been influenced and of corruption. David L. was charged by a prosecutor in July 2022. The charges were initially dismissed by an STS judge, but, based on a prosecutor's appeal, the decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, which instructed the first-instance court to decide on the case again. jrg/df