At its session on January 19, the government recalled three members of Slovakia's Judicial Council before their five-year mandate expired, the TASR newswire reported.
The measure involves two Supreme Court judges, Viliam Dohnanský and Daniel Hudák, who have been members of the council since July 2009 and September 2007, respectively. Hudák also previously held the post of justice ministry state secretary. The head of Bratislava III District Court, Richard Molnár, was also dismissed after serving in the post since July 2007. No reasons were given for the dismissals.
The new council members appointed by the government are Kočice Regional Court judge Ľudmila Babjaková who is a signatory to an initiative that calls for an open judiciary, Jozef Vozár from the State and Law Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), and a former judge at the Košice-based Constitutional Court, Alexander Brostl.
The Supreme Court president and chairman of the Judicial Council, Štefan Harabin, said later in the day that the dismissal of Dohnanský from the Judicial Council can only be viewed as a gift for the mob, TASR wrote. According to Harabin, Dohnanský was in charge of cases involving high-profile Mafia members, including the case involving Mikuláš Černák in which he sealed a life sentence for Černák.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
