Kollar's Attorney Might Appeal Against Verdict in Legal Battle with Curilla

Bratislava, February 23 (TASR) - The lawyer of former House chair Boris Kollar (We Are Family), Pavel Hagyari, conceded he might appeal against the verdict of the Bratislava IV City Court, which has ordered Kollar to apologize to police officer Jan Curilla over his statement about "Curilla-centered mafia" and pay Curilla €50,000 in damages. Curilla was one of former National Criminal Agency (NAKA) police officers investigating high-profile corruption cases until he's been suspended after the 2023 election by Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok due to charges pressed against Curilla by the Internal Affairs Inspectorate, with NAKA ending up dissolved under restructuring changes in the police corps. Speaking in Kollar's defence, Hagyari pointed out to the practice of the Slovak Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights, which, vis-a-vis the protection of freedom of speech, privilege two groups of persons - journalists and politicians - in order to enable them to criticise specific events related to public affairs in a more expressive fashion. "That's what happened in this case, when Mr. House chairman had reports that a certain group was violating laws, which even led to the launch of a criminal prosecution. This means he (Kollar) said he didn't want [the forming of] any mafia, any group..." Hagyari explained to TASR, underlining that Kollar has never said directly that Curilla was a mafia member. The attorney finds the sum of damages awarded unfairly high, pointing out that damages over the death of relative range in €20,000-30,000 under the law. He added that even though Kollar had uttered the statement, it was disseminated and "blown out of proportion" by the media, which makes the media partly responsible as well. On Friday (February 21), Curilla's attorney Peter Kubina confirmed that the Bratislava IV City Court ruled in favor of Curilla, as it found Kollar's statement about "Curilla-centered mafia" slanderous and a violation of Curilla's good reputation as well as indirectly those of his colleagues from the former NAKA. mf