STS: Former Special Prosecutor Dusan K. Found Guilty, But Receives No Sentence

        Banska Bystrica, September 3 (TASR) - The Specialised Criminal Court (STS) in Banska Bystrica on Tuesday found former special prosecutor Dusan K. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] guilty, but refrained from imposing an aggregate sentence.
        The prosecution accused him of the crime of accepting a bribe. According to the prosecution, he accepted €50,000 in a specially modified book in exchange for blocking prosecution as the then-head of the former Special Prosecutor's Office in two criminal cases. The verdict is not final.
        According to the judge, the evidence proved that the act took place. He stated that the sentence handed down so far - eight years' imprisonment and a fine of €100,000 - is sufficient, in his opinion. The defendant was sentenced to that sentence in his first corruption case in May 2022. The case concerned the acceptance of a bribe and the disclosure of information from files.
        The ex-special prosecutor's trial was held between September 2022 and November 2023. Dusan K. did not deliver his speech until August 28, in which he stressed that he hadn't accepted any bribe, describing the indictment as totally unfounded and the act as fabricated. According to him, the entire proceedings were based solely on the testimony of a single key witness, former head of the National Crime Agency's financial crime department Bernard Slobodnik. The defence sought acquittal.
        The prosecutor proposed to Dusan K., in view of the change in the provisions of the Penal Code, an aggregate sentence of ten years' imprisonment, a fine of €120,000 and an extra year if the defendant failed to pay it.
        In the first corruption case of the ex-special prosecutor, both Dusan K. and Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. The minister also decided to suspend the imposition of the prison sentence until the court decides on the appeal.