District Court Will Once Again Consider Motions to Release Cernak on Parole

Trnava, 21 May (TASR) - Trnava District Court will once again consider proposals to release former Banska Bystrica mob boss Mikulas Cernak on parole, Trnava Regional Court decided at a closed-door session on Thursday, TASR learnt from court spokesperson Martin Pogadl on the same day. Cernak, who is serving a life sentence, will thus remain in custody for the time being. "The primary reason for overturning the contested ruling was that, although the district court conducted extensive evidence-related proceedings, it based its decision only on some of the evidence presented. In the reasoning for its decision, it didn't state how it evaluated the other evidence presented or what conclusions it drew from it, which made it partly impossible to review the decision due to a lack of proper reasoning," said Pogadl. The regional court also concluded that further evidence must be gathered. At the same time, it considers it necessary to substantially supplement the reasoning of the decision so that the parties to the proceedings will retain the right to a two-instance proceeding. The proposal to release Cernak on parole was submitted by Restart-New Life NGO, with Cernak asking to have it considered as his own personal proposal as well. He expressed regret for the multiple murders that he's committed. The former boss of a Banska Bystrica criminal gang was given a life sentence, but he was eligible to apply for parole because he has now served 25 years in prison. am/df