Ciznar: Prosecutor's Procedure in Trnka's Case Lawful
Bratislava, January 22 (TASR) – The procedure of the supervising prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office (USP) in connection with the release of former prosecutor-general Dobroslav Trnka was lawful, Prosecutor-general Jaromir Ciznar said in his opinion after reviewing the procedure of the USP prosecutor, the opinion of the special prosecutor and after getting acquainted with the file concerning the so-called Tipos case, TASR has learnt from spokeswoman of the Prosecutor-General’s Office Andrea Predajnova on Wednesday.
According to Ciznar, the deed for which Trnka was charged does not fulfil the characteristics of the criminal offence of abuse of a public official’s powers under the Criminal Code. “Evidence to date shows that the former prosecutor-general, by his action, that is by filing an extraordinary appeal, exercised his powers in accordance with the law and prevented significant economic damage that Slovakia would have had to bear,” said Ciznar.
According to Ciznar, it was a mistake that in such a serious criminal case, the procedure between the Police Corps and the USP supervising prosecutor was not co-ordinated. Ciznar said that the prosecutor’s office was expecting such co-ordination. If this had happened, the prosecutor-general said they would have avoided inappropriate and biased media coverage, which resulted in unjustified attacks on the prosecutor’s office and accusations of unlawful action against it.
The former prosecutor-general Trnka was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NAKA) in his house in Hamuliakovo (Bratislava region) last week. The former chief prosecutor was allegedly charged because of his conversation with finance minister for Smer-SD Jan Pociatek concerning the Lemikon case. Trnka was released the next day. The release was ordered by a USP prosecutor. The charge itself was dropped on Tuesday (January 21). Following Trnka’s release, President Zuzana Caputova announced that she would invite to the Presidential Palace both the incumbent prosecutor-general and Police Corps President Milan Lucansky.
