The Regional Court in Bratislava upheld the appeal of the Minister of the Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas-SD) and annulled the default judgment, based on which he had to apologize to the police officers 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.
15.06.2026 19:38 , updated: 21:16
“Unfortunately, it turned out that the rules and jurisprudence of the highest judicial authorities on default judgments, according to which we were proceeding all along, were 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 case law that we pointed out in our submissions, despite the fact that its legal conclusions go beyond the text and purpose of valid and effective statutory regulation of the default judgment. We were surprised by this decision because until now, the courts have ruled in this case 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.
Šutaj Eštok wrote in response on the social network that justice must be blind, but at the same time carefully weighing all arguments for and against. “That’s why it’s good if he wins in a fair fight and not by default,” he said.
Minister Šutaj Eštok was supposed to apologize to the policemen around Ján Čurilla for comparing him to the rightfully convicted Mikuláš Černák, based on the judgment of the Municipal Court Bratislava IV of September 10, 2025. He also had to pay a total of EUR 90,000 in compensation to six police officers, as well as 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.
