Prosecutor Michal Shurek and the former head of the elite NAKA police unit in Slovakia, Lubomir Danko, were accused along with two former police investigators of abuse of power by the country's police inspectorate, Politiko reports, quoted by BTA.
All of them previously worked on the corruption case code-named “Purgatory”, in which Prime Minister Robert Fizzo, Defense Minister Robert Kaliniak, former national police chief Tibor Gaspar and other high-ranking officials were suspected of corruption and manipulation of police investigations.
Danko, who denies the charges, told the Slovak daily Dennik En that he was accused without evidence.
The accused detectives Jan Churila and Pavel Durko were attacked by politicians from the parties of the ruling coalition "Smer". and "Voice". Both were removed from office two days after Interior Minister Matusz Sutai Esztok took office last year following Fico's victory in parliamentary elections on September 30.
During Fico's current, fourth term in office, his government abolished the specialist prosecutor's office for serious crime, extremism and high-level corruption, which was tasked with investigating fraud on the EU budget and cases of high-level corruption the power – including “Purgatory”. Before that, the European Commission and the European Prosecutor's Office urged Slovakia not to close this service.
The EU executive's latest report on the rule of law in Slovakia, published last Wednesday, said the move “raises concerns about the effective fight against corruption and the protection of EU financial interests” in Slovakia. The commission also warned Bratislava that the country risks losing EU funding.
Among the accused officials, Prosecutor Shurek is the only one who continues to work on the “Purgatory” investigation. Critics fear the charges could be an attempt to remove him from the case.
According to the indictment, detectives made procedural errors during the investigation, such as entering police interviews into the wrong file. If the court finds them guilty, they face 7 to 12 years in prison.