STARA LUBOVNA, December 22, (WEBNOVINY) – The Judicial Council again did not vote on new Supreme Court deputy chairman at its session this Wednesday. Council member Ludmila Babjakova objected to the fact that despite the vote being on the agenda of the session, the Judicial Council did not approve it for discussion. According to Babjakova, until now the Judicial Council has not been able to schedule a discussion on the issue so that the vote on proposed candidate Igor Burger could take place. “Were he elected, the Supreme Court would have a deputy chairman. Were he not elected, the time for calling a new election would be passing,” explained Babjakova.
The judge went on to say that the public may feel that the Judicial Council is unable to elect a Supreme Court chairman, but the truth is that the Judicial Council has not yet even voted whether the vote would or would not be held. Babjakova considers this situation unacceptable.
According to council member Juraj Sopoliga, it would not be fair to the other Judicial Council members if the election took place when only thirteen out of eighteen of them were present. “I therefore think that seventeen of us should be here so that positions of all could be heard,” said Sopoliga. He maintains that if possible, all council members should be present at the election. Judicial Council Stefan Harabin said that “almost one hundred percent of members” of the council should decide on such an important issue.
Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska has filed three proposals for disciplinary action against Harabin. Harabin was already once found guilty of committing a serious disciplinary transgression based on the first motion of Zitnanska from November 2010. At that time, the Constitutional Court decided to punish Harabin with 70-percent reduction of his salary for a year for his failure to allow an audit of the Supreme Court by the Finance Ministry. Later that month, the minister also lodged a second motion against Harabin because she was convinced that he seriously violated the duty of a judicial official, which seriously compromises the trustworthiness of the judiciary in connection with changes in the work schedule at the Supreme Court, disrespecting the principle of random assignment of cases to individual judges. Zitnanska wants Harabin to lose the right to wear the judge’s gown for life and proposes as well that the Constitutional Court decides on his temporary suspension from the Supreme Court top position.
SITA