SaS: PG Ciznar Made Mistakes in Investigating Trnka-Marian K. Recording
Bratislava, November 4 (TASR) – It wasn’t the police who committed mistakes when investigating the alleged recording of prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka and Marian K., it was Prosecutor-General Jaromir Ciznar, former investigator of the National Crime Agency (NAKA) Pavol Milan, who is running for the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, stated on Monday.
SaS has been informed by a source close to the police that Trnka was called in for questioning back in the spring. The contents of the recording were supposed to be properly investigated, and the recording was assigned to an investigator. According to Milan, the investigator launched criminal proceedings regarding the matter in March. “As a former investigator, I can say that the procedure carried out by the police was appropriate, in my opinion,” he said.
Milan went on to say that Trnka was the first person to be questioned by the investigator. Trnka, however, refused to provide testimony, stating that he was bound by the obligation of confidentiality. Only the prosecutor-general was able to lift this obligation from Trnka, and so the investigator asked him to do so. “It was at this point when a problem arose. According to the NAKA head, it was granting permission to lift the obligation of confidentiality from Trnka that took the most time in the process of clarifying and deciphering the recording. This causes concerns about the actions of Ciznar himself,” he said. Milan is of the opinion that the delay in the testimony was designed to “narrow down Trnka’s testimony as much as possible”.
SaS representative Lucia Duris Nicholsonova believes that had it not been for Ciznar’s actions, Trnka could have been questioned by now and the current situation could have been different. “[Ciznar] might have feared what would stem from Trnka’s testimony,” she said, adding that according to information that SaS has at its disposal, Ciznar was keen to cover his own back.
Milan stressed that Trnka, Marian K. as well as the people mentioned in the recording should all be questioned. Ciznar should also be questioned, as he admitted publicly that Trnka played the recording to him and that he heard one-and-a-half minutes of it.
