Bratislava Regional Court released from custody Peter Scholtz, who temporarily headed the Internal Affairs Inspectorate (UIS), and four investigators of the National Crime Agency (NAKA). The court's spokesperson Pavol Adamčiak said that the regional court's senate viewed their criminal prosecution as unfounded. According to the Denník N daily, the indictment was related to the abuse of power by a public official and the influencing of witnesses' testimonies. The SME daily wrote that all released police officers could immediately return to work.
The investigators of high-stake and politically sensitive cases.were detained in the middle of September by the Interior Ministry's Inspectorate. This independent body running under the Interior Ministry was formed by the previous government. Its task is to investigate all types of crimes committed either by police officers or by prison guards.
At the time of the detention, Interior Minister Roman Mikulec called this step a continued effort to intimidate investigators, calling it a part of a "foul play".
Moreover, in reaction to the detention of these investigators, Prime Minister Eduard Heger created a working group with the aim of restoring the public's trust in the state of law. It consists of representatives of courts, prosecutors' offices, ministries and other institutions according to the statute of the Security Council.
The formation of the working group sparked disagreements in the governing coalition. The Speaker of Parliament and head of We are family party Boris Kollár criticized the step, and announced that his party would boycott the working group's work and veto its proposals.
For several months, media outlets in Slovakia have been speculating about war among the police due to big corruption cases.
