The Constitutional Court on January 9 decided to assign a complaint lodged by Jozef Čentéš, the general prosecutor-elect whom President Ivan Gašparovič has refused to appoint, to a judge-rapporteur, the SITA newswire reported, citing court spokeswoman Anna Pančurová. Čentéš’ complaint was delivered to the Constitutional Court on January 3, 2013.
The judge-rapporteur appointed is Peter Brňák, a member of the court’s first panel, which also consists of Marianna Mochnáčová as chairwoman and judges Brňák and Milan Ľalík. Judge Brňák is charged with preparing Čentéš’ complaint for a preliminary hearing by the panel. The panel will also decide on Čentéš’ request for a preliminary injunction to halt any parliamentary votes to select another candidate for the position of general prosecutor.
Čentéš claims that the decision by President Gašparovič not to appoint him as general prosecutor following his lawful election to the post by MPs in June 2011 is a violation of his rights. According to Čentéš, the president did not list any relevant legal reasons for his decision. Čentéš also announced, according to the Sme daily, that he would contest the line-up of the Constitutional Court panel on grounds of alleged bias and partiality.
Sources: SITA, Sme
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
