Cooperating Defendant Op: Court to Rule on Custody for Officers Late on Friday

Bratislava, 6 March (TASR) - Bratislava I City Court will decide at 10.00 p.m. on Friday on a motion to remand in custody charged police officers Jan C. and Pavol D. [names abbreviated due to legal reasons], who investigated high-profile corruption cases in the past, Bratislava courts spokesperson Pavol Adamciak confirmed for the media after a break in the hearing. The officers were detained by the Internal Affairs Inspectorate (UIS) during Operation Cooperating Defendant. According to Adamciak, the pre-trial judge interrupted the hearing because of the extensive case file that must be reviewed. Lawyer Jan Dulovic, representing the accused, told journalists that during the court hearing the officers addressed the absence of reasons for collusive custody. "We consider the motion to remand them in custody to be absolutely unjustified. We even believe that it was probably submitted to the court without jurisdiction by a prosecutor against whom a objection of bias has been filed. This [objection] hasn't even been decided on, but despite that he filed the motion for custody. So, we can see a whole range of procedural errors as well as very weak justification for the motion," said Dulovic. He added that during the hearing the defence has already brought up statutes of limitations regarding some of the alleged acts given the legal classification. However, according to Dulovic, when deciding on custody the defence was served with a change in the legal classification by Trnava Region Prosecutor's Office prosecutor Michal Zenuch precisely to prevent the acts from becoming time-barred. "They expanded it by saying that they were committed against several people, so the acts can't be time-barred," said the lawyer. He also noted that the resolution for bringing charges doesn't state that anyone has been questioned as an injured witness. "They say that several people were harmed, but at the same time we basically don't have even a single injured party in procedural terms, so I'm very curious as to how the court will deal with this," added Dulovic. The motion for the prosecution in custody of Jan C. and Pavol D. was filed by a UIS investigator on the grounds of collusion. He claimed that they could influence witnesses, experts, co-accused or otherwise obstruct the investigation. The prosecutor agreed with the motion and submitted the custody proposal to the court on Thursday morning (5 March). Other detainees, including Prosecutor-General's Office prosecutor Michal S. and police officers Branislav D., Robert M. and Roman S., were released after questioning on Wednesday (4 March). They will be prosecuted at liberty. During Operation Cooperating Defendant on Tuesday (3 March), the police inspectorate detained and charged four current and two former police officers as well as one prosecutor. They face charges of extortion and the misuse of powers by a public official, allegedly committed in an organised manner. mf/df