Slovak Supreme Court denies retrial in 1976 Cervanová murder case

The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic has issued a final decision denying requests to reopen the murder trial of student Ľudmila Cervanová, who was killed in 1976. The court's June ruling rejects the attempts by convicted individuals to initiate a retrial.

While a regional court in Bratislava had previously partially allowed a retrial based on a new expert report regarding the crime scene, the Supreme Court overturned this. The high court noted that some of the accused had confessed to the crime during the initial proceedings and concluded that the new expert report does not have the potential to undermine the credibility of the statements made by the accused regarding the course of the crime.

One of the applicants, Milan Andrášik, has rejected the court's findings, claiming the court ignored illegal police and prosecutorial actions from the early 1980s. He stated he would seek assistance domestically and through European channels to fight what he describes as a ‘judicial crime’.