Čentéš might submit criminal complaint against Macejková

General prosecutor-elect Jozef Čentéš is considering whether to file a criminal complaint against Constitutional Court President Ivetta Macejková for her alleged interference in the independence of the court. Čentéš was prompted by a leaked e-mail that Macejková received from one of the judges on the court, in which he refused her decision that he will decide over Čentéš’ objection to the decision of President Ivan Gašparovič not to appoint him to the top prosecutor post, the Sme daily reported on May 11.

General prosecutor-elect Jozef Čentéš is considering whether to file a criminal complaint against Constitutional Court President Ivetta Macejková for her alleged interference in the independence of the court. Čentéš was prompted by a leaked e-mail that Macejková received from one of the judges on the court, in which he refused her decision that he will decide over Čentéš’ objection to the decision of President Ivan Gašparovič not to appoint him to the top prosecutor post, the Sme daily reported on May 11.

“We are evaluating this possibility,” Čentéš said, as quoted by Sme, adding that they “will make a decision in the following days”.

Macejková assigned Justice Peter Brňák to handle the complaint filed by Čentéš at the beginning of the year, even though he had previously been excluded from doing so due to an objection of bias submitted by Čentéš. Brňák himself protested Macejková’s move and called on her to respect the principle of unbiased decision-making and impartial judgment. He even wrote an e-mail of protest to Macejková and all Constitutional Court justices, Sme reported in its May 10 issue.

What could enable Brňák to decide in the case is the amendment to the law on the operation of the Constitutional Court, which was passed in a fast-tracked parliamentary proceeding on April 30, but which has yet to be signed into law by the president.

Macejková said she sees no problem with assigning Brňák to the case, arguing that he would “probably” get it later anyway.

Both politicians and lawyers say that it is possible to punish the Constitutional Court president for assigning the file to the judge who has already been excluded from decision-making in the matter, Sme reported.

Meanwhile, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) called on Macejková to resign from her function, saying that she has recently made “several flagrant mistakes when deciding over the submission of unelected general prosecutor Jozef Čentéš” with which she has “cast doubt over her capability to serve not only as president of the [Constitutional] Court, but also as a constitutional judge”, the SITA newswire reported on May 13.

Source: Sme, SITA

For more information about this story please see: Macejková reportedly intervened in allocation of Čentéš case before law change

Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports

The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.

Top stories

Stock image.

Twice as many Ukrainians work in Slovakia now than before the Russian invasion.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad