Former political prisoners are calling on Štefan Harabin to resign from his post of Supreme Court President. They have issued their call in the name of Cyril Bystrík Janík, whom Judge Harabin tried as chairman of a panel of judges of the District Court in Poprad in 1986, the SITA newswire reported.
“During your judicial career, all those who had the courage to freely express their opinion and speak out the truth were intimidated by the judicial mafia, which is legalizing a multi-million business in litigation concerning so-called protection of reputation. In a democratic country with genuine rule of law such practices are unacceptable,” writes František Bednár on behalf of the World Association of Former Czechoslovak Political Prisoners.
The career profile of Štefan Harabin on the “Leaders” website, according to the association, intentionally omits the fact that in the past he served at the District Court in Poprad. “Mr. Supreme Court President, in the name of our deceased brothers, we are calling on you to reconsider your continued service in your post, otherwise, the Slovak Republic will remain the only post-communist country where the supreme court president sentenced a priest [while serving as] a judge of the Communist regime,” Bednár said, as quoted by SITA.
Franciscan friar Cyril Bystrík Janík died prematurely at the age of 46 as a consequence of charges of fraud fabricated against him, according to the assocation. The former political prisoners are also accusing Harabin of not being interested in removing discredited judges from the judiciary since the collapse of the Communist regime.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
