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Police: Basternak's Murderer May Get Life Sentence
Monday 12 July 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, July 12 (TASR) - Stefan K., accused of murdering Nitra regional (NSK) councillor Laszlo Basternak (ethnic-Hungarian SMK party), may face a 25-year prison sentence or even life, Police Corps Vice-president Michal Kopcik told a press conference on Monday in Bratislava.
He specified that Basternak, formerly also the mayor of the town of Hurbanovo (Nitra region), was murdered on Friday, July 9 at 9:05 p.m. with one gunshot into his head. The perpetrator hopped into his car and attempted to flee the scene, added Kopcik. However, Basternak's stepson fired 12 gunshots, with one of them hitting the murderer's elbow. He then got out of the immobilised car and ran away, but the police caught up with him and arrested him on Saturday.
According to Kopcik, the murder was preceded by an incident on Thursday when an unknown offender attempted to enter the grounds of Basternak's property. It remains unclear whether this had something to do with Basternak's murder a day later (or the fact that Basternak's stepson had a gun at the ready).
As well, back in March an unidentified assailant attempted to kill Basternak as he was taking his dog for a walk. The bullet struck an iron gate, which saved Basternak's life. No arrests were made at that time.
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