The General Prosecutor's Office is interested in the case of the alleged abuse of girls in a resocialization facility in Galanta, in western Slovakia. MP Natália Blahová of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity party brought up in her blog a case of the allegedly abused 14 year old Natália. Blahová claims that this is not the only case of abuse in that facility. The General Prosecutor's Office will look into the investigation and its progress so far and inspect the decision of Police who had stopped the case's prosecution before the case caught the attention of the media. The Office also plans to carry out its own control in the facility following one launched by the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Ministry on Tuesday.
The case will also be addressed by Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová, whose office received a motion to this effect on Monday. "We'll probably deal with it on the spot, but also at other institutions," she added, noting that she'll first look into the approach that should be adopted in this case by the Prosecutor-General's Office, the police and Children's Ombudswoman Viera Tomanová. According to Dubovcová, the state is repeatedly failing to protect the rights of children. She pointed out that state institutions are set up in a dogmatic way and that children are often viewed only as a means of obtaining state resources. The ombudswoman noted that her office has dealt with motions concerning re-education facilities in the past, but only certain cases of children being mistreated in a non-sexual manner were recorded.
The Labour, Social Affairs and Family Ministry has described the assertions of MP Blahová as misleading and as misinterpreting the facts. The resocialisation centre has denied the accusations.
