VZCZCXRO2162
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHSL #0764/01 2561551
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131551Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0299
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHUP/AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST PRIORITY 0909

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRATISLAVA 000764 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
BUDAPEST FOR ERIC GAUDIOS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV HU LO
SUBJECT: ETHNIC-HUNGARIAN SLOVAK RESPONDS PUBLICLY TO 
POLICE ALLEGATION SHE LIED ABOUT A RACIALLY-MOTIVATED ATTACK 
 
REF: A. BRATISLAVA 733 
     ¶B. BRATISLAVA 754 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000764  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. During a September 13 news conference, 
Hedviga Malinova, a Slovak student of Hungarian ethnicity, 
stuck firmly to her claim that she was verbally and 
physically attacked by two youths on August 25. (Ref A) She 
contradicted the conclusion drawn by PM Fico and Interior 
Minister Kalinak that she only pretended to have been 
attacked for personal reasons. (Ref B) Pol FSNs who watched 
Malinova,s press conference described her as looking 
credible, but Kalinak told the Ambassador September 13 that 
he is absolutely convinced the forensic evidence backs him up 
(see paragraph 13). Kalinak and President of the Police 
General Jan Packa defended the police investigation and 
accused the Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK) and others 
of seeking to politicize the issue and discredit Slovakia, 
the government of Slovakia and the Slovak legal system. The 
stakes of this are extremely high for the Slovak governing 
coalition if Malinova,s story proves to be true, as 
officials at the highest possible level are out on a limb. If 
the government is proven correct, it can help them with their 
problems in the EU. End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Malinova, an ethnic Hungarian student of  German and 
Hungarian at Nitra University, spoke at a press conference on 
the Slovak news channel TA3 on September 13. (The text of 
Malinova,s statement follows in paragraph 11.) She was 
accompanied by her lawyer, the Party of the Hungarian 
Coalition (SMK) MP Gabor Gal. Malinova and Gal spoke in 
Slovak for the first hour of the press conference then 
switched to Hungarian for an additional half- hour devoted to 
the Hungarian press. FSN staff said that both Hedviga and Gal 
were more fluent, credible and at ease in Hungarian. It was 
evident that Slovak is not the native language of either, and 
pol FSN said their statements could have sounded less 
convincing in Slovak than they did in Hungarian. 
 
¶3. (U) Malinova was nervous and anxious when describing some 
sections of the attack, and at times could not answer 
questions as she appeared to hold back tears, finally openly 
weeping. She said she does not recall every detail of the 
attack, because she was scared to death and wanted to do 
everything she was told to do by the two culprits. 
 
¶4. (U) Malinova said her attackers may have overheard her 
speaking Hungarian when she gave directions to a young couple 
in a car with Hungarian plates.  (Comment. Originally 
Malinova had told police that her attackers had overheard her 
speaking Hungarian on her mobile phone. The fact that phone 
records showed no calls had been placed to or from her mobile 
on the morning of the attack was one of the principle pieces 
of evidence cited by investigators and Kalinak on September 
12 when they accused her of fabricating the incident. End 
comment.) Gal added that he will post a message in Hungarian 
and Slovak media asking the couple to whom Malinova gave 
directions to come forward and attest to her story. 
 
¶5. (U) Malinova said she would not have gone public if the 
police did not threaten to charge her for lying and filing 
false charges.  She said that on September 9, police picked 
her up at her house and told her she would confront the 
alleged culprits. Instead, the police brought her to a 
station and questioned her for six hours.  She insisted the 
police pressured her to withdraw her charge, and said that if 
she did not she would be imprisoned. 
 
¶6. (U) Malinova said that after the attack, she went to her 
university where her teachers took pictures of her injured 
face and encouraged her to inform the media.  Gal stressed 
that the police never took any official pictures of her 
injuries after the attack.  She claimed that she never lied 
and everything happened as she described it. (Comment. A 
Slovak tabloid referred to Malinova as a liar in a front page 
story. End comment.) With the help of a psychiatrist Malinova 
said she was able to recall several details that she could 
not recall immediately after the attack. 
 
¶7. (U) Gal mentioned three medical reports documenting her 
injuries and expressed his surprise that the director of 
Nitra hospital, after first confirming her injuries, later on 
played down the facts about her injuries.  According to Gal, 
all three reports indicated injuries including a brain 
concussion, swollen and bruised right side of face, a broken 
upper lip and bruises on her thighs.  He added that 
surprisingly enough, the police called a legal 
expert-traumatologist only ten days after the attack when 
most of Malinova,s injuries had already healed. According to 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000764  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
the earliest medical report,  a brain concussion together 
with shock could have caused Malinova to suffer amnesia. 
 
¶8. (U) Gal also alleged that the police never took Malinova 
to the site of the incident and never tried to reconstruct 
the attack.  In his view, the police closed the investigation 
after two weeks, which is unusual fast to do it without 
seeking further evidence.  He went on saying that it is 
absurd that the police reversed the charge, attempting to 
turn her from the victim to an offender.  Also, Gal claimed 
that the police never tried to inspect her skirt, panties or 
shoes that may have born signs of clay or weeds. Both Gal and 
Hedviga denied the charge made by Kalinak on September 12 
that the graffiti on her blouse had been written in her own 
hand. Malinova said she does not recall when her attackers 
painted &Hungarians below the Danube8 and &Slovakia for 
Slovaks8 on her blouse.  When asked how come her blouse bore 
no signs of dirt although she had been thrown to the ground, 
Malinova could not offer an explanation. 
 
 
¶9. (U) With respect to an envelope, in which Malinova,s 
personal documents were returned to her home address, and 
which a later DNA check indicated she had sealed herself, 
Malinova said she received the envelope with her ID and other 
documents, took them out and used the envelope as a folder 
for other papers. She later dumped the envelope in a waste 
basket where the stamp fell off.  After a few days, she 
reported this to the police, who asked her for the envelope 
with the stamp.  She search for both in the basket and licked 
the stamp to reaffix it to the envelope. 
 
¶10. (U) Gal stated his main goal is to make the police 
continue a proper investigation and seek the truth. 
 
¶11. (U) Malinova,s made the following statement, as 
translated by FBIS (EUP20060913950039 Bratislava TA3 
Television in Slovak 1208 GMT 13 Sep 06): "On 25 (August) I 
was going (to the Faculty of Central European Studies of 
Nitra University) to take part in an Hungarian-language 
end-term exam...I was first approached in English, asked 
whether I could speak English. I said no. Then German. I said 
yes, I can speak German but I also speak Hungarian. They 
asked how to get to Nove Zamky (a town in southern Slovakia). 
I gave them the information...I continued on my way. Suddenly 
I heard somebody shouting at me "In Slovakia speak Slovak". 
And then again, "Slovak in Slovakia". I turned round and I 
saw two boys, young boys. They were around 20-22 years old. 
They came up to me and asked me whether I had not heard what 
they told me, whether I am deaf or stupid or whether I cannot 
speak or hear. I told them that yes, I did hear and I did 
understand what they had told me and that they should leave 
me alone as I did not do anything to them. They asked me 
where I was going. I told them that I was going to the 
faculty to pass and exam. They told me: You will no longer go 
anywhere today. They pulled at my hair and that is probably 
when I also received a blow (in face). My nose started 
bleeding...I do not remember all they told me but I remember 
clearly that they ordered me to take off my jacket, tights 
and to take off my earrings. I was very scared and I did all 
they ordered me to do. Then I felt a kick in the belly. And 
before that they slapped me several times. I fell to the 
ground... I remember laying in the grass, being terribly 
cold...Then (I remember) running. I do not know where, I just 
keep running...My blouse is torn, I have blood all over me, 
on my chest..." 
 
GOVERNMENT STICKS TO ITS STORY 
------------------------------ 
¶12. (U) In a press conference at 5:00 PM local time on 
September 13, Kalinak and Packa accused Gal, SMK and other of 
seeking to politicize the issue. They defended the police 
investigation and the results as they had announced them on 
September 12, and said that the case will not be reopened. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Ambassador raised our concerns about this case 
again with Kalinak on September 13. Kalinak stood firmly by 
his story, arguing that the facts were clear and there was no 
doubt Malinova made it up. Ambassador urged Kalinak, 
notwithstanding the facts, not to demonize the girl, and said 
the government is loosing the P.R. war. The Ambassador urged 
Kalinak to hold a private audience with SMK to present the 
facts. Kalinak admitted that he had tried this approach with 
SMK leader Bugar three times, with limited success. 
Ambassador urged Kalinak to respond vigorously to future 
attacks, and Kalinak noted that the government response to 
the Nitra case had given them tremendous knowledge about 
extremism in the region and that they even now know the 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000764  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Daniel Tupy killers and were awaiting further evidence before 
charging them. (Comment. Daniel Tupy was an ethnic-Slovak 
student beaten to death in November 2005 in Bratislava. End 
comment.) 
 
¶14. (SBU) Post is actively engaging GOS and other concerned 
parties on this extremely sensitive issue and will keep the 
Department informed of developments. 
VALLEE