JUST like members of parliament, judges in Slovakia will also lose their immunity from criminal prosecution, the Pravda daily wrote in its January 15 issue.
The amendment, authored by Smer MP Róbert Madej, leaves judges with so-called functional immunity, which means that they would use their immunity only in connection with their work and thus could not be prosecuted for their decisions and or for legal opinions expressed in their rulings. This will also be stipulated in the constitution, the SITA newswire reported.
Additionally, the Constitutional Court’s approval will no longer be needed for a judge to be subjected to criminal prosecution.
Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška, Constitutional Court President Ivetta Macejková and the Slovak Association of Judges agreed on the amendment in December when they discussed the issues of judges’ salaries. Now the opposition and the biggest professional organisation of judges will be able to comment on it, Madej told Pravda.
