Court Partially Allows Reopening of Cervanova Murder Case

Bratislava, March 3 (TASR) - Bratislava Region Court has partially allowed the reopening of the case of the murder of student Ludmila Cervanova in 1976, overturning a ruling of Bratislava Region Court in 2004 partly concerning verdicts of guilty of murder and sentences of punishment in conjunction with a verdict of the Supreme Court in 2006. However, it rejected a motion to reopen the case concerning Juraj Lachman, as he was acquitted of the murder charge by the 2004 judgement. The prosecutor lodged an appeal against the decision, as did all appellants except one. According to a statement made by senate head Peter Samko, the court was convinced by an expert report found in the archives, which deals with the place where Cervanova's body was found. According to the courts, on July 9, 1976, medical student Cervanova was forcibly dragged into a car in front of a halls of residence in Bratislava and taken to a house where she was held by violence. She was forced to drink alcohol, stripped naked and raped. The offenders then decided to kill Cervanova because she threatened to report what they had done. They took her tied up in the boot of a car to the thermal lake in Kralova pri Senci (Bratislava region). Her body was found there on July 14, 1976. [Seven people were convicted of the murder, but there have long been claims that they were framed, possibly for political reasons. - ed.note] am/df