BRATISLAVA, November 16, (WEBNOVINY) — Hundreds of people gathered at the Primate’s Palace in Bratislava to pay the last farewell to prominent lawyer and former President of the Czechoslovak Constitutional Court Ernest Valko, who was murdered at his home a week ago. Politicians, actors, writers, singers and other personalities attended the farewell ceremony in the palace’s Mirror Hall.
On behalf of the government, Prime Minister Iveta Radicova apologized to Valko for not having prevented injustice and attack on his reputation in 2006. „For me, you have always been and will be an honest guy,” she said. Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska said that in his struggle for the rule of law, morals was always above written law for the lawyer. She said that over the past twenty years, Valko had been part of the battle for morals in law. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky underscored that Valko saw not only the law but also a human being.
“He was an exceptional man, lived an exceptional life and left behind a strong message, he fought for the law, he was a real man, did not hesitate and did not fear. He was health-obsessed, he did not stop working on himself. Though, he was successful, his life was never easy. He was an advocate of public interest,” said Finance Minister Ivan Miklos.
According to ex-rector of the University of Economics in Bratislava Juraj Stern, Valko played a key role in creation of the state in the early nineties and as the president of the federal Constitutional Court he participated in adoption of key decision of the new judiciary. Ladislav Snopko read a letter for former Czech President Vaclav Havel who believes that the felonious and cowardly act of murder of Ernest Valko will be punished. Havel underscored that it is necessary to persist in the fight for the rule of law and a democratic state.
Bratislava attorney Ernest Valko was shot dead on November 8 at his family house in Limbach near the capital. The offender has not been identified yet. The police is tight-lipped about the ongoing investigation.
Valko was a prominent Bratislava lawyer who specialized in constitutional cases. He was deputy chairman of the lower house of the federal parliament in 1990-1991 while in 1992 he became the chief justice of the Czechoslovak Constitutional Court. Since 1993 he ran his own law firm. Valko represented a number of state institutions under the past two governments of Mikulas Dzurinda, including the government privatization agency FNM and the SPP gas utility. He also won a legal battle in 1998 that helped Dzurinda’s SDK party remain in the running for elections and defeat the ruling HZDS. The last time he was the lawyer of Finance Minister Ivan Miklos whom he represented in the dragging libel lawsuit against former Prime Minister and opposition SMER leader Robert Fico. In 2006 elections, Valko ran on the slate of the Civic Conservative Party Four years ago, the police detained Valko and tycoon Ladislav Rehak and charged them with extortion. In the spring of 2008 the prosecution was however halted.
SITA