Supreme Court Remands Former Economy Minister Pavol R. in Custody

Bratislava, December 16 (TASR) – Former TV Markiza director and later economy minister Pavol R., until now wearing electronic tagging, was remanded in custody in line with a decision of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, as the court believed that he could attempt to escape before his appeal hearing newly set for January, TASR was told by Supreme Court spokesperson Alexandra Vazanova on Wednesday.

Pavol R. appeared before the court for the custody decision with gauze covering both eyes, as he claims that an unknown person poured an unidentified substance on him while he was jogging on Monday. He stated that this was the reason why he was unable to appear at an appeal hearing at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Nevertheless, the prosecutor in charge expressed doubts that Pavol R. was really unable to testify at court due to injury and asked the police to investigate the issue. He was detained later on Tuesday.

Pavol R. is being charged along with businessman Marian K. with forgery of multi-million promissory notes held against TV Markiza.