Parliament picks five candidates for CC judges - corrected

PARLIAMENT has elected five of candidates for the Constitutional Court (CC) judges, of whom the president will appoint three that will replace Ján Auxt, Juraj Horváth and Ján Luby whose 12-year tenure expires on July 4. The sixth candidate will be picked in the new voting in May, the TASR newswire reported on April 3.

PARLIAMENT has elected five of candidates for the Constitutional Court (CC) judges, of whom the president will appoint three that will replace Ján Auxt, Juraj Horváth and Ján Luby whose 12-year tenure expires on July 4. The sixth candidate will be picked in the new voting in May, the TASR newswire reported on April 3.

The opposition as well as observers have criticised the vote.

The list of judges selected by the parliament includes: Supreme Court judge Jana Baricová (nominated by Supreme Court President Štefan Harabin), Nitra Regional Court judge Ján Bernát (nominated by General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár), notary and university teacher Miroslav Duriš (nominated by head of the Chamber of Notaries Karol Kovács), Bratislava I District Court chair Eva Fulcová (nominated by Kovács and dean of Comenius University’s Faculty of Law Pavol Kubíček) and Košice Regional Court chairperson Imrich Volkai (a nominee of dean of the Košice-based Faculty of Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University Gabriela Dobrovičová). All of them were backed by between 77 and 84 MPs.

The Sme daily has previously pointed to some controversial applicants. Two of the candidates, Baricová and Fulcová have filed antidiscrimination lawsuits against the state. Moreover, Fulcová is a former classmate of Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Judge Volkai is, according to Sme, cited as an example of cronyism in the court system.

Former justice minister Lucia Žitňanská said she is disappointed by the result of the balloting.

“There were three [candidates] who could improve the credibility of the CC and justice as a whole,” she said, as quoted by Sme. “They are not among those elected”.

Also Zuzana Wienk of the ethics watchdog Fair-Play Alliance is disappointed, saying that Smer has “flushed down all chat about purifying of justice”, as reported by Sme.

Robert Madej of Smer, however, says that “respectable candidates” were chosen.

The last judge will be picked in a new vote.

Source: TASR, Sme

Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports

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

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