ATTACK ON ETHNIC HUNGARIAN STUDENT FABRICATED,

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000754 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM LO SUBJECT: ATTACK ON ETHNIC HUNGARIAN STUDENT FABRICATED, SLOVAK POLICE SAY REF: BRATISLAVA 733 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Reports of a racially-motivated attack on an ethnic Hungarian student in the town of Nitra two weeks ago and which have sparked considerable controversy between Hungary and Slovakia were false, according to the Slovak police investigator. Interior Minister Kalinak announced on September 12 that the attack, which set off a wave of international condemnation of the Slovak Republic and the inclusion of the Slovak National Party (SNS) in the Slovak government, was fabricated by the alleged victim. According to a police source, the motivation behind the hoax was personal, not political. We cannot offer an independent assessment on the government's claims, but the Ambassador will meet with the Interior Minister September 13 and discuss the case. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) Interior Minister Robert Kalinak announced at a press conference that the police have called off their investigation of the alleged attack on an ethnic Hungarian student, identified only as Hedviga M., after multiple untruths in the alleged victim's story led them to the conclusion that the attack never happened. On August 25, Hedviga M. claimed that she had been attacked by two skinheads in the town of Nitra for speaking in Hungarian on her cell phone (reftel). She said that the perpetrators beat her, wrote anti-Hungarian slogans on her shirt, and took her cell phone. ¶3. (U) Kalinak elucidated several lies in the alleged victim's story: -It was raining on the day of the attack, and although the girl came to school wet, her blouse on which anti-Hungarian slurs were written was dry and clean; - Although the alleged victim claimed to have been attacked while talking on her mobile phone in Hungarian, phone records revealed that no calls were placed on her phone around the time of the alleged attack; -An expert's report found the writing on the alleged victim's blouse to be identical to her own script on her passport application; - A DNA analysis of an envelope containing the alleged victim's personal documents, which she claimed to have received anonymously after the attack, showed the alleged victim herself had sealed the envelope. ¶4. (U) According to Kalinak, more than 250 police officers were deployed, and 620 suspects questioned in the course of the investigation of the incident. Kalinak said that it is up to the police whether any charges would be filed against the alleged victim. WHY DID SHE DO IT? -------------- ¶5. (SBU) A police source informed Emboff that the reason the young woman fabricated the story was to avoid taking a university exam that she had previously failed twice before. Ironically, the exam was on the Hungarian language. The source expects that charges will be filed against the woman. (COMMENT: While it appears that there was no political motivation behind the false claim, we can expect plenty of political finger-pointing in the next few days and weeks over the incident. END COMMENT.) ¶6. (U) Prime Minister Robert Fico stressed that this incident was one reason why the Slovak government has been vilified on several occasions over the past two weeks. "This reason has never existed," said Fico. He also said that the government would tolerate neither extremism or xenophobia, nor someone destroying the good reputation of Slovakia with lies. ¶7. (U) Ambassador Vallee has a previously scheduled meeting with Minister Kalinak tomorrow and will discuss the investigation, and its potential aftereffects, in more detail. VALLEE