The Regional Court in Bratislava upheld the appeal of Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas-SD) and annulled the default judgment, based on which he had to apologize to the policemen around Ján Čurilla for comparing him to the rightfully convicted Mikuláš Černák and pay compensation. The lawyer of the Čuril family, Peter Kubina, informed about this on the social network, saying that the dispute is thus returning to the beginning and that the lawsuit will be heard.
“Unfortunately, it appears that the rules and case law of the highest judicial authorities on default judgments, which we have followed all along, have been literally turned upside down by the Court of Appeal.” Kubina pointed out. He claims that despite the fact that there are several precedents in which similar default judgments were approved by the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court, the Court of Appeal did not follow them.
“He decided that, in his opinion, in disputes about the protection of personality with monetary compensation for non-pecuniary damage, the decision by default judgment is inadmissible. It is to the detriment of the matter that the Court of Appeal did not confront this opinion at all with the relatively numerous jurisprudence that we pointed out in our submissions, despite the fact that its legal conclusions go beyond the text and purpose of the valid and effective legal regulation of the default judgment. We were surprised by this decision, because until now the courts have decided on this matter in accordance with the aforementioned jurisprudence,” he added, adding that they respect the regional court’s decision.
Kubina also pointed out that the decision of the regional court came on the day when the execution was supposed to take place. According to him, it will now be stopped and the matter will be returned to the court of first instance, which will discuss it at a hearing and make a new decision on the matter.
“Justice must be blind, but at the same time carefully weighing all the arguments for and against. That is why it is good when it wins in a fair fight, and not by default.” wrote the Minister of the Interior on a social network.
Šutaj Eštok was supposed to apologize to the policemen around Ján Čurilla for comparing him to the duly convicted Mikuláš Černáka, based on the judgment of the Municipal Court Bratislava IV of September 10, 2025. He also had to pay six policemen a total of EUR 90,000 in compensation, legal costs and interest on late payment.
The Minister of the Interior reacted on the social network to the original default judgment by saying that he stands by his words. He pointed out that due to his workload, he hardly uses the public administration portal. According to him, the court was not interested in his arguments. He also blamed the judge for not trying to contact him otherwise.
