Slovakia Seeks to Overturn Conviction of Fugitive Who Claimed Asylum in Bosnia

Jan Kalavsky. Photo: BIRN. Through an extraordinary legal remedy submitted to Slovakia’s Supreme Court, the country’s Justice Minister Boris Susko has requested the overturning of the verdict of Jan Kalavsky, a former senior police investigator who hid in Bosnia and Herzegovina until March 2025 in order to evade his seven-year prison sentence. In the submitted request, the Slovak Ministry of Justice asserted that the facts and the assessment of evidence in the Kalavsky case were incorrectly established, and called for a review of the judgment. Although the ministry did not confirm any details to the Slovak media, it stated to BIRN that the appeal was filed on August 6. “The Minister of Justice files an appeal against a final decision based on factual findings that were incorrect regarding material circumstance, as established by the evidence, or if, in the course of determining the facts, provisions intended to ensure that the matter was properly clarified were seriously violated,” the Slovak Ministry of Justice stated in its written response to BIRN. The ministry added that it could not disclose any further details publicly, as the appeal proceedings are still ongoing. Kalavsky, a former operative of the now-disbanded National Crime Agency (NAKA) and key figure in Slovakia’s so-called “war in the police”, which erupted after the 2020 government change and the launch of anti-corruption investigations under then-prime minister Igor Matovic, was convicted and sentenced to seven years for corruption in July 2023, though this ruling was not final. He was tried in absentia, as he had already fled to Bosnia in September 2021, where he applied for asylum, which under domestic law provided him with protection preventing his extradition for as long as the proceedings were ongoing. Kalavsky was one of three high-ranking Slovak security or law enforcement figures that fled to Bosnia after being indicted for criminal activities committed during Robert Fico’s time in office between 2012-2018, widely regarded as the most corrupt in Slovakia’s recent history, which ended with his resignation following the contract murders of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova. After a five-year interregnum, Fico returned to office in 2023 at the head of a three-party coalition. The new majority in February 2024 pushed through controversial amendments to the criminal code – which the opposition dubbed a “pro-mafia package” – amid accusations that Fico’s government was attempting to shield convicted individuals who had collaborated with the administration during its previous term in office. BIRN investigations concluded that these fugitives were awaiting those amendments to the criminal code that could lead to reduced sentences. Indeed, although Kalavsky told BIRN journalists he would never return to Slovakia because he had found peace in Bosnia, he returned to his homeland and began serving his sentence following the legislative changes and a 2025 Supreme Court ruling that reduced his original seven-year prison term to five years. “I am surprised that this move [by the justice minister], aimed at completely overturning the verdict, is happening only now; I expected it to occur much earlier,” Tomas Madlenak, a former journalist from Bratislava who has investigated the cases involving Slovak fugitives in Bosnia, told BIRN. Madlenak believes that such a request won’t end up setting Kalavsky free, but instead interprets it merely as an attempt by Fico’s ruling Smer party to appease former associates so they won’t agree to cooperate with the justice system in other cases. Madlenak bases this conclusion on the fact that the reasoning behind the request has been kept from the public. “I assume that is because the arguments in that case are likely quite far-fetched, given that the entire case against Kalavsky was very clear. He even admitted himself that he had received ‘gifts’ from Petrov [Peter, nicknamed “Tiger”], to whom he had disclosed police information,” said Madlenak. The Kalavsky case is the fourth such case in which the Slovak Ministry of Justice is seeking the overturning of verdicts. Since 2024, Justice Minister Susko – a member of Fico’s Smer party – has filed three additional appeals against final verdicts handed down to former high-ranking state officials convicted during a wave of anti-corruption investigations launched following the 2018 murders of Kuciak and his fiancée. In addition to Kalavsky, these appeals concern Dusan Kovacik, Zoroslav Kollar, and Frantisek Imrecze. Kovacik, a former special prosecutor, was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 100,000 euros for accepting bribes and leaking information from case files. After spending more than two years in prison, he was released in December 2025 following a ministerial appeal; his final conviction was quashed, and the case was remanded for a retrial. In the meantime, Kovacik has sought 400,000 euros in compensation from the state. Two other appeals – concerning lawyer and businessman Kollar and former Slovak Financial Administration chief Imrecze – were rejected. Madlenak believes that Kalavsky’s case is very similar to Kovacik’s case, where the verdict was overturned following a request by the minister and where the defendant will be tried under the new controversial criminal law. “Kalavsky is evidently a figure close to the corrupt system established by previous Smer-led governments. I believe this is another attempt by Minister Susko to overturn a legal and correct court decision in favour of a criminal who is rightfully serving his sentence,” Madlenak said.