VEĽKÉ ZÁLUŽIE
Olympic winner accidentally kills pedestrian
Michal Martikán, 18, an Olympic gold-medal winner in Atlanta, accidentally killed a pedestrian in a car accident on November 21 near the village of Veľke Zálužie (pop. 3,800) in western Slovakia. The pedestrian, Ľubomír Dúbravec, 49, died three hours later in a Nitra hospital from complications resulting from his wounds. Dúbravec, a security guard on a road construction site, was on his way to work when he was hit by Martikán's car. The police reported that Martikán was probably speeding, noting that on the section where the accident happened, the speed limit was 40 Km/h. Blood tests found no alcohol in Martikán's blood. Martikán was returning from a press conference in Bratislava where he had spoken of his plans for the winter and the 1998 World Championships. A full investigation may be completed in a month, said Vladimír Švéci, head of Nitra Traffic Police. If convicted, Martikán faces a two-year prison sentence.
ŽILINA
Two local mobsters murdered
Milan Holáň, alias Gorilla, 35, the alleged mafia boss of the Kysuce region in northwest Slovakia, was murdered together with his friend, Stanislav V., 23, on November 25 in Hotel Astória in Žilina (pop. 87,000). At 12:40 in the afternoon two armed men walked into the hotel's restaurant and opened fire at the two victims, shooting Holáň in the head and chest and his companion in the head. According to Jaroslav Krupa, head of the police investigation department, the shooting was the fifth attempt on Holáň's life that the police were aware of. Krupa explained that the assailants escaped through the back door, followed by city policemen. After a short exchange of fire, the assailants escaped in a VW Golf with a German license plate. Several blocks further on, they changed cars, leaving behind the VW Golf and making off in a Citroen Berlingo. Krupa said that the assassins were younger than 30.
Compiled by Andrea Lörinczová from press reports