Life imprisonment in Slovakia
Life imprisonment in Slovakia (doživotný trest odňatia slobody in Slovak) is a sentence of indeterminate length, lasting until the convict's death. In Slovak law, since the abolishment of the death penalty in 1990, it is the most severe punishment available. After 25 years, the prisoner can apply to the prosecutor to be released on probation and at any time, he may apply to President of Slovakia for clemency.
As of 2007 there were 28 people serving a life sentence in Slovakia,[1] all of them located in two high-security prisons in Ilava and Leopoldov. Two prisoners have committed suicide while serving their sentences and there were no amnesties or releases on probation in the history of Slovakia. The list of people convicted for life in Slovakia includes the serial killer Ondrej Rigo, mafia boss Mikuláš Černák or mafia hitman Alojz Kromka.
History
The last person to be executed in Slovakia is Štefan Svitek[2] who was hanged on June 8, 1989 in Bratislava, then Czechoslovakia. Svitek murdered his wife and two daughters with an axe on October 30, 1987. Since January 1990 a non-written moratorium on death penalty was in place in Czechoslovakia. Death sentence was abolished on July 1, 1990, with the newly created Slovak Republic taking over the law common in Czechoslovakia and the death sentence was never renewed.
Living conditions
People sentenced to life imprisonment in Slovakia are assigned three and a half meters squared space in their cell, which includes a bed, table, wardrobe, radio and electric lighting. Outside of their cells, they are always accompanied by a prison guard. They can only work inside their cells or in workplaces inside the prison. They are not allowed physical contact with their relatives.
List of people sentenced to life imprisonment in Slovakia
This is a list of people sentenced to life imprisonment in Slovakia after its creation on January 1, 1993. The list should be complete as of September 22, 2010.[3]
| Name | Reason | Sentencing date | Highest Court sentencing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tibor Polgári | mass murderer (6 murders with others) | February 2, 1993 | - |
Member of the 1991 Leopoldov Prison escape, the group killed 5 prison guards and one prisoner fighting their way out. Tibor Polgári was serving a 13 year sentence for extortion. He was the leader of the prison escape. |
| Miloš Uriga | mass murderer (6 murders with others) | February 2, 1993 | - |
Member of the 1991 Leopoldov Prison escape, the group killed 5 prison guards and one prisoner fighting their way out. |
| Jozef Slovák | serial killer (4 murders) | August 20, 1993 | September 3, 1993 |
After serving just 8 years for the murder of a young Yugoslavian woman, serial killer Jozef Slovák was released on presidential amnesty. Together, he murdered at least 5 women aged 16 to 21 in Slovakia and Czech Republic. He is of above average intelligence and the holder of several patents in electronics. |
| Jaroslav Garaj | mass murderer (4 murders) | October 19, 1994 | did not appeal to Highest Court |
One morning, Jaroslav Garaj murdered his wife (34) and three children (two girls aged 3 and 2 and a boy aged 11 months) in the small village of Dubové, where they resided. Before drowning them, he raped the girls. He confessed to the murders, saying he wanted them to be free of pain, acting under the influence of Jehovah's Witnesses' literature. |
| Ondrej Rigo | serial killer (9 murders) | December 7, 1994 | February 28, 1996 |
The most prolific serial killer in Slovak history. Known as the Sock killer or International killer, Ondrej Rigo murdered 9 women in Bratislava, Munich and Amsterdam in the early 1990s. After smashing their heads, he would copulate with their bodies. |
| Drahoslav Gembický | murderer (2 murders) | December 16, 1994 | - |
On March 14, 1993, in the village of Padarovce, Drahoslav Gembický murdered his father and grandmother with a wooden table leg, hitting their heads and beating them to death. |
| Róbert Matta | mass murderer (5 murders with Hauser) | May 24, 1995 | - |
Róbert Matta and Viliam Hauser from Bratislava murdered a Vietnamese family of five including a pregnant woman and a two-year-old child on April 8, 1994. They stormed the family's company DUK, s. r. o., on Stará Vajnorská cesta in Bratislava, shooting everyone with Škorpion vz. 61 sub-machine guns and suffocating the child with a pillow, stealing 1,5 million Slovak crowns. |
| Viliam Hauser | mass murderer (5 murders with Matta) | May 24, 1995 | - |
Viliam Hauser and Róbert Matta from Bratislava murdered a Vietnamese family of five including a pregnant woman and a two-year-old child on April 8, 1994. They stormed the family's company DUK, s. r. o., on Stará Vajnorská cesta in Bratislava, shooting everyone with Škorpion vz. 61 sub-machine guns and suffocating the child with a pillow, stealing 1,5 million Slovak crowns. |
| Štefan Mlynarovič (a.k.a. Džony) | murderer (1 murder) | September 11, 1995 | - |
After being sentenced to 25 years in 1976 for murdering his unfaithful girlfriend in Bratislava, Štefan Mlynarovič (1942) was released in 1991 on probation. At this point, he has spent 30 years of his life in prison. On July 4, 1992, he murdered Anna Mikuličová in her apartment in Bratislava and he is the main suspect in the murder of a girl, a crime for which he was never convicted. |
| Jozef Vígh | murderer (1 murder with others) | March 23, 2000 | - |
In the early hours of September 2, 1999, Jozef Vígh from Čenkovice and Stanislav Zimmermann from Malá Lehota strangled their cellmate in Leopoldov Prison with a leather belt and laid his body in a way to suggest suicide. At this time, Jozef Vígh was already serving 15-year-long sentence. They were both convicted of the murder and their sentences have been changed to life imprisonment. |
| Stanislav Zimmermann | murderer (1 murder with others) | March 23, 2000 | - |
In the early hours of September 2, 1999, Jozef Vígh from Čenkovice and Stanislav Zimmermann from Malá Lehota strangled their cellmate in Leopoldov Prison with a leather belt and laid his body in a way to suggest suicide. At this time, Stanislav Zimmerman was already serving 17-year-long sentence. They were both convicted of the murder and their sentences have been changed to life imprisonment. |
| Viliam Feigler | murderer (2 murders with others) | June 16, 2000 | - |
Viliam Feigler was already sentenced 10 times before when in July 1997 he was living in an abandoned house on Lamačská cesta in Bratislava with a group of other homeless people. Together with Božena Mlčová and with quiet cooperation of Ján Szabó and Peter Cinege, over several days he slowly tortured to death two other homeless - Madunický and Pastorek. Together with Mlčová, they were both drunk all the time when they poured pure ethanol down the throats of their victims, hit them with metal rods and bricks, burned them and in the end, cut off their genitals. |
| Marek Zivala | serial killer (3 murders) | October 17, 2002 | December 18, 2002 |
In 1996, Marek Zivala murdered Jaroslava K. (34) in Most in the Czech Republic and robbed her apartment, later murdering Božena M. (20) in 1997 in Žilina and Oľga V. (52) in 1998 in Topoľčany with the same modus operandi. He was found to be sane, but suffering from a polymorphic sexual deviancy with sadistic tendencies. |
| Ladislav Boldižár | murderer (3 murders) | sentenced by Highest Court, no appeal possible | November 21, 2002 |
The Highest Court overturned the decision of regional court in Nitra, which sentenced Ladislav Boldižár to 25 years in prison in favor of a life sentence for the shooting of his wife and her parents on July 16, 2000. Driving ahead of them, he forcibly stopped them near Nové Zámky and after an argument, he shot them all. |
| Alojz Kromka (a.k.a. Lojzo the Cleaner) | mafia hitman (3 murders) | September 30, 2003 | June 10, 2004 |
While suspected by the Slovak police of numerous contract killings, including several mafia bosses and a ritual slaying of an ex-police officer, Alojz Kromka was finally sentenced for the murder of mafia boss Milan Holáň a.k.a. Gorila and two of his associates. After hearing the sentence, he tried—unsuccessfully—to escape from the courtroom. |
| Štefan Gemer | murderer (3 murders) | sentenced by regional court in Nitra, date unknown | September 22, 2004 |
In August 2002, Štefan Gemer murdered Marek Tilz, Júlia Galová and Marián Tilz (1) and attempted to shoot another two persons in the village Tupá. He was sentenced for 3 cases of murder, 2 cases of attempted murder and unlawful possession of a weapon. |
| Anton Tichý | murderer (2 murders) | February 15, 2005 | June 14, 2005 |
Anton Tichý murdered Štefan Gaduš (67) in 1992 and František Kľúčiar (36) in 1994. He committed both crimes in Žilina and hid the bodies. |
| Henrich Masár | murderer (3 murders) | October 12, 2005 | April 21, 2006 |
Henrich Masár murdered Mária Dananyová (74), Margita Šajtlavová and Peter Hanták. After a massive manhunt, he entered the house of the Rovenský family, where he took the family hostage. He was neutralized after trading the hostages for his girlfriend. He confessed to the murders, stating he was under the influence of drugs. His motivation was to rob the victims of money to buy drugs (presumably heroin). |
| Jozef Kákoni | organized crime (? murders) | May 3, 2006 | December 7, 2006 |
Member of the Kyselinári case, an organized crime scheme active in 2000-2001, which included carousel trading with fake computer software and several murders. The victims, including the gang's boss, were shot, dissolved in acid (hence the name in Slovak language) and disposed in the sewers, causing almost 4 million euro damage in taxes. |
| Ondrej Neubauer | organized crime (3 murders with others) | June 6, 2006 | December 7, 2006 |
Member of the Devín Bank scandal, a sophisticated scheme of economic crime (with estimated damages of 57 million Slovak crowns) that included the murders of Anton Bujňák, Zoltán Nyitrai and Štefan Holub. |
| Marián Jánošík | organized crime (3 murders with others) | June 6, 2006 | December 7, 2006 |
Member of the Devín Bank scandal, a sophisticated scheme of economic crime (with estimated damages of 57 million Slovak crowns) that included the murders of Anton Bujňák, Zoltán Nyitrai and Štefan Holub. |
| František Jančo | murderer (1 murder) | sentenced by regional court in Žilina, date unknown | June 20, 2006 |
- |
| Peter Grofčík | murderer (2 murders) | date unknown | May 3, 2007 |
- |
| Róbert Č. | murderer (1 murder) | July 13, 2007 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
- |
| Peter Laduna | murderer (3 murders) | sentenced by Highest Court, no appeal possible | November 7, 2007 |
- |
| Rastislav Šitta | organized crime (1 murder) | September 17, 2007 | October 27, 2009 |
- |
| Ján Karvai | theft (no murders) | December 3, 2008 | May 21, 2009 |
- |
| Róbert O. | organized crime (6 murders with others) | February 17, 2009 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
- |
| Jaroslav P. | organized crime (6 murders with others) | February 17, 2009 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
- |
| Branislav Adamčo | organized crime (2 murders) | February 24, 2009 | September 13, 2010 |
- |
| Volodymyr J. | organized crime (4 murders with others) | February 27, 2009 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
- |
| Eduard V. | organized crime (4 murders with others) | February 27, 2009 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
- |
| Vasyl P. | organized crime (4 murders with others) | February 27, 2009 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
- |
| Jurij R. | organized crime (4 murders with others) | February 27, 2009 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
- |
| Tibor P. | murderer (1 murder with others) | November 6, 2009 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
In 2007, Tibor P. brutally murdered a security guard in a company based in Stupava, Malacky District. He denied the intent to kill, stating he went there only to steal. |
| Mikuláš Černák (a.k.a. Miki) | mafia boss (6 murders with others) | November 10, 2009 | September 22, 2010 |
At one time, Mikuláš Černák, the boss of mafia in Banská Bystrica was considered to be one of the most powerful figures in the Slovak mafia. He was sentenced for life for the murder of Jozef Filip in 1994, Jozef Štefan in 1994, Pavel Lenhart in 1997, Milan Sipos and Emil Potasch in 1997, Gustáv Slivenský in 1997 and ordering the murder of Marián Karcel from prison in 2000. |
| Zoltán Keka | murderer (1 murder) | Sentenced by Regional Court in Banská Bystrica, date unknown | June 1, 2010 |
In August 2009, Zoltán Keka murdered his father with a stick and a wooden log in the Slovak village of Kleňany. After the murder, he had 2,7 per mil blood alcohol content and his father was also drunk. He was abused by both his father and grandfather, whom he murdered in 1993 and served some time for this murder. |
| Miroslav Borbély | murderer (2 murders with others) | June 21, 2010 | appealed the sentence, waiting for verdict |
Together with Zdeno M., Miroslav Borbély kidnapped and murdered a Bratislava couple Erik (35) and Miroslava (22) and shot them to death in October 2008. He confessed to the murder of Erik, but claims that Miroslava was murdered by Zdeno M., who was acquitted by the court. |
Prisoners no longer serving their sentence
- Ondrej Harvan—mass murderer (6 murders with others) (Sentenced on February 2, 1993) Committed suicide on May 29, 1993 in his cell.
- Marián Kočiščák—murderer (1 murder) (Sentenced on March 29, 2001) Kočiščák committed suicide in prison "several months" after being sentenced by the Highest Court.
See also
References
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