Kosice Police Officer Charged with Manslaughter to Stay in Custody

Kosice/Bratislava, November 20 (TASR) - A Kosice-based police officer charged with aggravated manslaughter will stay in custody, as the Kosice Regional Court reaffirmed the decision of a pre-trial judge to take Marek A. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] into 'collusive custody' and turned down his complaint on Wednesday, TASR learnt from Kosice regional court spokesperson Anna Pancurova on the same day. During his shift on November 5, the police officer beat up a man apprehended for grocery store theft so severely that the victim died in hospital the next day. The Internal Affairs Inspectorate pressed charges on November 12 and, if found guilty, the man might face up to 12-15 years in jail. Together with a police strike team, the Internal Affairs Inspectorate conducted an operation codenamed the Excess on November 11, during which they arrested two police officers working at the Kosice Police Directorate over the suspicion of misusing their powers. mf/mcs