BRATISLAVA, September 3, (WEBNOVINY) – Supreme Court President and former justice minister Stefan Harabin warned on Friday that the ruling SDKU-DS wants to gain control over the judiciary. He said that the respective draft amendment to the law on judges, which the justice department led by SDKU-DS’s Lucia Zitnanska has submitted for interdepartmental review is nonsense, as it cannot be regarded a contribution to acceleration of the court procedure and improvement of the enforceability of the law. He alleges that the draft is aimed at concentrating jurisdictions in the hands of the justice minister at the range unseen in Slovakia since November 1989. The former justice minister said that it is bolshevization of the judiciary, where SDKU politicians will have absolute power and control.
Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska has presented the first package of measures aimed at greater transparency in the judiciary in Slovakia. Among the measures proposed are making public the court decisions on Internet, public selection procedures for the positions of judges and court chairmen, public judiciary testing, and cancellation of bonuses for judges.
In reaction to her predecessor Harabin, minister Zitnanska said that she stands by her proposals opening the judiciary to the public control. “I believe that the amendments will restore trust in the judiciary which has been harmed over last years,” she said. It is the biggest opening of the judiciary to the public control, the aim of which is to limit he space for abuse, intimidation, nepotism and corruption, the minister continued. The steps which her department has implemented curb the space for the willful actions of the minister and court chairmen. „We are breaking the threads, we are removing possible unwanted influence of court chairmen and the minister on judges. For example, we propose the cancellation of bonuses to judges distributed by court chairmen, transparent redistribution of funds at courts, the opening of the selection of court chairmen and judges to the public control, elimination of the influence of court chairmen on judges’ decision-making and the creation of conditions for the publication of all court decisions,“ said the minister. „I can imagine that the opening of the justice to the public control is probably a thorn in the eyes of an obscure group of people who are losing the possibility to influence judges thanks to this proposal and to pull the strings in order to obtain personal benefits,“ said Zitnanska.
The justice minister divided the changes into three categories: those related to opening of the judiciary to public control, those focused on the elimination of the opportunities for internal corruption and influencing judges, and those that strengthen the independence of the judiciary so that unbiased decision-making of judges in individual cases is guaranteed.
SITA