Former Police Official Bartek Skips Court Hearing in Case Brought by Curillovcovia Officers

A former Slovak police official known as Bartek failed to appear at a court hearing in a civil case in which police officers — members of a unit informally known as "curillovcovia" — are seeking 84,000 euros from him. His legal representative attended in his absence and sought to walk back earlier remarks he had made suggesting the judge in the case had been "arranged" or improperly influenced, comments that had drawn significant attention. The curillovcovia were members of an elite National Criminal Agency (NAKA) investigative unit that had pursued high-profile corruption and organized crime cases under former NAKA director Peter Čurilla, after whom the group is colloquially named. The unit became highly controversial in Slovakia's polarized political environment, with the current government of Prime Minister Robert Fico — whose Smer-SD party was itself a target of some of their investigations — moving to dismantle the unit and pursue legal action against several of its members. The case reflects the ongoing institutional and judicial fallout from the deep divisions between the Fico government and the law enforcement figures who had previously pursued cases against its allies.