The Prosecutor-General's Office made mistakes in the case of the attacks on customers and the owner of the Mariatchi bar in Nitra, Prosecutor-General Jaromir Cižnar concluded on Monday. Police are currently dealing with one incident from last October, when five suspected neo-Nazis assaulted the pub's clients, some of whom sustained serious injuries in the attack.
The attack was captured on CCTV and the faces of the assailants are clearly visible. Some of them ran under the slate of Marian Kotleba's right-wing Our Slovakia-Peole's Party in the 2012 general election. A second incident which occured on January 1, 2014, involved an attack against the pub's owner, who ended up with a broken leg. The alleged perpetrators of the first attack were taken into custody last week only to be released by the Nitra District Prosecutor a mere day and a half later. Two other men who were also alleged members of a local neo-Nazi grouping and are said to have taken part in a second attack, were charged without being detained at all. This prompted Prosecutor-General Jaromir Cižnar to seek an explanation from the authorities in Nitra.
Last week Interior Minister Robert Kaliňak defended the delayed procedures of the police, indicating that moving too hastily could result in a diminution of the seriousness of the extent of injuries and lighter penalties for the perpetrators.
