JUDGES will select their ninth representative in the Judicial Council in November, from five candidates: Štefan Harabin, Dušan Čimo – the remaining three were announced on Monday – former vice-chair of Bratislava Regional Court, Lenka Praženková of the Supreme Court, Jozef Vanca of the Košice Regional Court, and Martin Bargela of the Žilina Regional Court, the SITA newswire reported on October 13.
None of the latter three has ever expressed himself publicly about the problems in the judiciary. They were nominated by their original courts. Harabin was proposed by ten Supreme Court justices; and Čimo by his mother Regional Court in Trnava, by 12 justices of the Supreme Court and the For Open Justice professional association.
The seat of Judicial Council has been empty since the change to the Constitution in September which divided function of the Supreme Court chair from that of the head of the Judicial Council. Subsequently, on September 16, Daniela Švecová was elected as the new Supreme Court chair by the Judicial Council and appointed to her post by President Andrej Kiska on October 2.
According to Grigorij Mesežnikov, president of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) this elections will have symbolic meaning and their result will show “whether the judiciary will conserve its current state, or if contrarily it will more support reforms”.
(Source: SITA)
Compiled by Roman Cuprik from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
