BRATISLAVA, May 25, (WEBNOVINY) — The Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, according to its chairman and Supreme Court President Stefan Harabin, does not agree with recalling court presidents before the end of their tenure without giving relevant reasons, at a time when the Constitutional Court is examining the changes in the laws on the status of the judges and court administration. “The Judicial Council views dismissals without warning them of possible faults in court management or without disciplinary proceedings as an unconstitutional move, which interferes with the independence of the judiciary and does not contribute to creation of a transparent personnel environment in the judiciary,” said Harabin on Wednesday.
The Justice Ministry underscored that dismissing the chairpersons was carried out in compliance with the applicable legislation and all dismissal decisions contained statements of the reasons as well. So all sacked court presidents are aware of the reasons for their dismissal. “This cannot be said of the speedy dismissal decisions signed by Stefan Harabin in his first days as Justice Minister, the unlawfulness of which was confirmed by court verdicts,” stated Peter Bubla, spokesman of the justice minister.
Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska dismissed nine chairpersons of district courts and five heads of regional courts because their courts achieved the worst results. She rejected allegations that she sacked heads of courts close to the Supreme Court president and her opponent Stefan Harabin, in particular. The justice minister received the power to dismiss heads of courts on May 1, when the draft amendment to the law on judges took effect. With this amendment, the affected heads of courts lost the right to appeal the decision in court. The recalled heads of court will, however, remain in their respective courts as regular judges.
The Justice Minister also reacted to the Tuesday news conference of the director of the General Prosecutor’s Office for Special Operation Peter Sufliarsky, who slammed the courts’ faults after which several accused were released from pretrial custody. Zitnanska considers this news conference politically-motivated and inappropriate. “I do not consider it positive for departments or the prosecutor’s offices to leave each other messages through media when they have my telephone number,” she stated. Sufliarsky criticized the courts for not acting and omitting prosecutors from the game as well as not informing them of their decisions. At the same time, he criticized the leaking of information by law enforcement bodies to media.
SITA