Justice Minister Štefan Harabin is making efforts to concentrate judicial powers in his hands, an MP for the opposition SDKÚ-DS party, Lucia Žitňanská, claimed at a news conference on April 8, as reported by the SITA newswire.
Žitňanská said that Harabin is concentrating powers into the Judicial Council and its chairman, while in the backstage he himself is aspiring for the post. She said the minister has been submitting draft bills that absolutely separate the judicial system making it impossible for anyone to see into it. She said a real danger exists that the system could be left unsupervised.
Žitňanská added that the Judicial Council decides on everything that happens in the judicial system. She said that during the election of the Council's members, judges received written instructions about whom they should vote for. The SDKÚ-DS has submitted a draft amendment to the law on judges which would prevent such power concentration.
In the amendment, the opposition party proposes that judicial exams and also contests to select judges are made public, SITA wrote. The strongest opposition party also suggests that public contests for the selection of judges should be held even if a judicial candidate on the wait list is applying for the post. According to Žitňanská, fears and cronyism are spreading in the judiciary. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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