On December 5 the first competitive public process to select two new judges for the Žiar nad Hronom District Court began in Banská Bystrica. The process involves thirty candidates, among them prosecutors, judicial clerks, attorneys, and public notaries, the SITA newswire reported.
This is the first time that the new process for filling court vacancies, which was initiated by Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská from the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), has been used.
The selection process, open to the public, will last for three days, SITA wrote, and consists of a written exam, a psychological test, and an interview with a committee headed by former Banská Bystrica District Court Deputy Chairperson Jaroslava Vráblová.
The written exam, conducted on December 5, covered the candidates' general knowledge of law, writing two verdicts, and a written translation of a text from a foreign language. The psychological tests will be conducted on December 6 and a simulated hearing is to take place on December 7.
The questions in the written exam were generated randomly under the supervision of the committee and three randomly chosen participants. The successful candidates are to replace two judges at the Žiar nad Hronom District Court: one who had handled criminal cases died in a traffic accident; and a civil law judge who now is working at the Banská Bystrica Regional Court.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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