Lawyer Valková: Father would be horrified by what is happening – Denník N

Jana Valková’s computer is in the hands of police IT specialists who are assessing what happened in this lawyer’s e-mail box. Valková represents cooperating accused businessman Michal Suchoba in a corruption case in which businessman Jozef Brhel is also a defendant. In the interview, he also talks about the following: that the survivors of the well-known lawyer did not get to see Jozef Radič, the accused for shooting Ernest Valek, even 12 years after the murder; how she registered that strange things were happening in her e-mail box; how she explains the blogs and texts that were created after her mailbox was hacked; how she met Michal Suchob and why, according to her, he started cooperating with the police. You are the daughter of Ernest Valek, so was it clear that you would be a lawyer? I come from a family of doctors and lawyers. My grandfather was an active lawyer even in his nineties, trying to litigate various institutions. He advised my father all his life. I have childhood memories of chasing blown files down the beach. Or when it was Father’s Day, I drew hearts and a paragraph in it. I was definitely influenced to go in that direction. I also had a dream that one day I would work with my father in the office, he was my big role model. I thought that it would help me to learn the law, that we would run a family business together. Unfortunately, that dream ended the day he was murdered. How old were you then? Freshly 26. I had just finished school and joined his office as a paralegal. This November it will be 12 years since your father was murdered in his home. Is it still the case that you do not trust the official conclusions brought by the police and the prosecutor’s office that it was a robbery and that the murder was not planned? I don’t know what to think about it myself, after all these years. Two perpetrators were identified. One was Mr. Klinka, the other Mr. Radič. Mr. Klinka decided to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, confessed to the crime, but testified that he was not the shooter. It was supposed to be a robbery and he named Mr. Radič as the shooter. Mr. Klinka was dismissed for separate proceedings, entered into a plea agreement and received eight years. The main hearing with Mr. Radič has not yet taken place. The file is assigned to the Bratislava 1 District Court, it was announced that the hearing will take place this year, but it has not been scheduled and I do not know what is happening with the case. As a family we are still waiting. How do you feel about it taking so long? This is common at District Court Bratislava 1. To me, it’s terrible just because it’s still not over, it’s still reopening, and we still have to live through it. I can already imagine the entire evidence and the main hearing. Of course, I want to participate in it and I can’t wrap my head around it. How did you perceive the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová? As a huge tragedy, especially for the family of both. I know that losing someone tragically like this is a very big wound that will never heal. Did you know Kočner? She didn’t know. I met him maybe two or three times at some event, maybe we exchanged a few words. I know his daughters from the city. In the promissory note case, he tried to protect your father by saying that he knew about the promissory notes and was using his name in his defense. I remember it. It’s his right, I wasn’t there, the father is poor. If he were alive, he would have commented on it. Now you are the lawyer of the co-accused Michal Suchoba, who runs a business in the IT sector. How did this happen? One of our mutual acquaintances approached me. Mr. Suchoba comes from Limbach, as do I, we registered, we did not know each other personally. He asked me if I would start representing him. He had a different lawyer before, he wanted to hear a different opinion. We got in touch and you will already know it. This article is exclusive content for Denník N subscribers. Are you a subscriber? Log in