Slovak authorities make a breakthrough in murder case from 17 years ago: Lawyer who works for neo-Nazi clients is charged
More than 17 years and four months after the murder of student Daniel Tupý in Slovakia, the first charges have been filed in the case. The National Crime Bureau (NAKA) has charged a Bratislava-based lawyer, Adam Puškár, with his murder.
Puškár has been arrested and is being booked. The Facebook page of the Police of the Slovak Republic reported the development.
Mr. Tupý was a student in Bratislava at Comenius University who was stabbed to death on 4 November 2005 on the banks of the Danube in Bratislava’s Petržalka quarter. The assailants also kicked other youths present at the scene.
The tragedy sparked a wave of protests against extremism, neo-Nazism and violence in Slovakia. According to media reports, the lawyer under suspicion is part of the neo-Nazi scene and has many controversial clients.
Puškár has represented, for example, a musician accused of the possession and production of extremist materials, Jaroslav Pagáč (aka “Reborn”), as well as the fitness trainer Dušan Seliga, who was convicted of assaulting women with fecal matter and urine in Bratislava. Paradoxically, in 2009 Puškár was given “top secret” security clearance by the National Security Agency, four years after the crime the police are now ascribing to him.
Slovak police first arrested 10 people, kept the arrests of two of them quiet
On Thursday, 23 March, police released eight suspects who had been arrested on 22 March in association with Mr. Tupý’s murder. According to Police President Štefan Hamran, all had been present at the scene of the 2005 crime.
Hamran said on Thursday that officers had arrested a total of 10 persons but did not inform the public about two of them immediately for tactical reasons. The director of the National Crime Bureau, Lubomír Daňko, explained that police first reported the arrest of eight persons who were released after 48 hours.
The other two persons were arrested subsequently. Hamran said this method of delaying communications with the public in this matter was part of the investigation tactics.
Speaking at a press conference, the chief of police sharply criticized the politicians who had critiqued the release of those arrested. In his view, their remarks “were unbelievably wide of the mark.”
The investigation of the student’s murder has been full of complications and failures until now; in 2009, five persons charged were released by the District Court for lack of evidence. The indictment of Puškár is the first breakthrough in this protracted case, which has shaken Slovak society to its core.
