Acting Supreme Court president is among the detained judges.

Related story: Police raid houses of Kočner's judges and Bödör Read more

Several judges whose names appeared among those who had communicated with Marian Kočner were swept up by action Storm in the early hours of March 11.

The anti-crime unit of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) raided the houses of a number of judges, including former deputy justice minister Monika Jankovská, her sister Andrea Haitová, and judge Zuzana Maruniaková.

The police are collaborating with another judge mentioned in the communication, Vladimír Sklenka.

The judges have been detained on charges of corruption, interference with the independence of courts and obstruction of justice, the police wrote on Facebook. The judges who have been charged and detained have been working at various Bratislava courts.

Along with other evidence, the charges are based on the communication that was extracted from the phone of Marian Kočner, currently sentenced to 19 years in the forged promissory notes case and charged with ordering the murder of Ján Kuciak, the Sme daily reported.

The detained judges have been brought to the Nitra branch of NAKA. Kočner has been transported there as well, Sme reported. He has been charged with bribing the judges, his lawyer Marek Para confirmed to press.

The police now have 48 hours to interrogate those charged.

The police specified that altogether 13 judges, one former judge, one bankruptcy administrator, one attorney and two civilians have been detained. This includes Jankovská, Haitová, Maruniaková, Denisa Cviková, Miriam Repáková, acting Supreme Court President Jarmila Urbancová, attorney Miroslav Mojto, and several others, according to Sme.

Košice will decide on custody proposal first

11. Mar 2020 at 9:12 | Compiled by Spectator staff