FOREIGN diplomats are continuing publicly to monitor disciplinary proceedings against judges critical of Supreme Court President Štefan Harabin. British Ambassador Michael Roberts and representatives of the embassies of the USA, Canada, Norway and Austria attended a hearing against Supreme Court Justice Jozef Kandera on March 17, the Sme daily reported.
The disciplinary panel found Kandera guilty of protracted oversight of criminal cases and cut his salary by 15 percent for one month.
The proceeding was initiated by Harabin, who insisted that there was procrastination in four cases assigned to Kandera and suggested demoting him to a lower court as a punishment.
Kandera argues he is innocent, and immediately appealed against the ruling.
“The judiciary has been hit heavily and it will be hard to get over it,” Kandera said, as quoted by Sme. “It was hit by a virus, which I will not name. We have had a virus here with the initials H1N1 and in this case the initials are similar.”
Kandera is among the critics of Štefan Harabin.
Chase Beamer, press attaché of the US Embassy, told the TA3 TV news channel that the US Embassy sees conflicting positions pertaining to court procrastination cases.
