BRATISLAVA, June 14, (WEBNOVINY) — The prosecution service is not and cannot be independent, opines the ruling coalition’s candidate for the post of prosecutor general, Jozef Centes. “As long as hierarchic models are applied in the prosecution service, we cannot talk of independence. The prosecution service is a separate entity, meaning separated from the executive branch, accountable to parliament, and that is how it should remain,” Centes stated when the Parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee grilled candidates for the post of prosecutor general. The ruling coalition’s candidate considers keeping the prosecution service separate to be “the alpha and omega”.
Centes emphasized that he is not tied to any politicians and has never acted in favor of a third party and undertook to remain politically neutral. “Unless I am able to do this, I am useless here,” he underscored. He finds the principle that public authorities may act only within the limits of the Constitution binding. “If I do not fulfill this, I should not be there”, he said.
Centes said his ambition as potential prosecutor general is to accelerate criminal proceedings that sometimes last five, ten or even more years. In order to shorten the due process, he wants to transfer prosecutors from abolished military prosecution service to district prosecutor’s offices. He supports the efforts of Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska (SDKU-DS) to make prosecution service more transparent and open to public scrutiny. According to him, making the decisions of prosecutor’s offices public should apply above all to the Office of the Prosecutor General. “They are most usable with regard to application practice,” he noted.
The opposition’s candidate, former Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka is more skeptical to making the decisions public. “The prosecution service is something of a closed circle, I cannot imagine the prosecution service becoming transparent in the sense of taking everything out, make everything public and show it only from the tactical point of view,” he said. With regard to public contests for prosecutor posts, he does not consider the entry of lay elements into contests or disciplinary committees a good idea. Trnka pointed out that the prosecution service does not recruit “ready-made” prosecutors, but gradually trains them.
Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik announced that the open election of the prosecutor general will be held on Friday, June 17. The public vote could be thwarted by the Constitutional Court, to which acting Prosecutor General Ladislav Tichy turned, who considers the public vote at odds with the Constitution. The court is to announce its next steps or a potential injunction that would prevent the public vote on Wednesday, June 15.
The new prosecutor general will act in line with new rules for the prosecution service, pushed forward by Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska.
SITA