Shocking news came in yesterday of the apparent suicide of former vice-chairman of the Supreme Court, Juraj Majchrak, who was found dead at his home yesterday. A coroner was sent to the scene to examine the body and rule out foul play.
Majchrak was a known critic of Supreme Court head, Stefan Harabin, and even challenged him for the top job at the Supreme Court, He also passed judgement in a case against a group of Slovak mafioso who would allegedly dispose of their opponents by disintegrating them in acid. Since August 2010 Majchrak had been on a disability pension.
Maybe a combination of these circumstances led the 55 year old Honorary president of the Association of Slovak Judges to take his life, if that is the case, but we will probably never know.
Like most suicides, the news came as a shock for many, with interior minister Daniel Lipsic referring to Majchrak as one of the most honest judges in the country, while offering his condolences to Majchrak’s family and friends. Condolences were also forthcoming today from justice minister Lucia Zitnanska and the Supreme Court.
Minister Zitnanska went as far as to say that we had lost someone who was a symbol of honesty and justice in the judiciary, while mentioning how the loss was all the greater because such people are rare in Slovakia.
Whether or not foul play was involved will be something the police will be looking at, but even if there are signs of it, closing such a case tends to be something that proves difficult in Slovakia, just like the murder case of lawyer Ernst Valko.
I have edited the report to include your premise.
Yes James, point taken. It was something that I wanted to explore, but waiting to see what the first autopsy reports say. I actually edited those comments out before posting the article, but just like the case of esteemed lawyer Ernst Valko, getting to the bottom of such cases in Slovakia proves very hard indeed.
Do you think it is impossible for criminal organizations made up of ex-members of the state security to kill people who cross them and imprison their members to exact revenge and make it look like suicide? However, you are now able to report with confidence not just that this citizen was found dead but after carrying out a long and intesive investigation into the matter you can now confidently report to the world that it was suicide. Even though this judge opposed corruption in the judiciary and sentenced criminal gangs on behalf of the Slovak people there is no reason to suspect that anyone would want him dead.