Jozef Čentéš, Slovakia's elected but unappointed candidate for the post of general prosecutor, has reportedly rejected an offer from Jaromír Čižnár, the man instead appointed by the president to do the job, to become his deputy. Čentéš declined to comment on the issue, the Sme daily reported on July 24.
The post is currently occupied by Čižnár’s predecessor, Dobroslav Trnka, who will leave it by the end of this week. Trnka is likely to become a regular prosecutor working at the administrative and oversight department of the Office of the General Prosecutor.
Čižnár is introducing other personnel changes. For example, Ladislav Tichý, the deputy general prosecutor who has led the prosecutor’s office on an interim basis since February 2011, when Trnka’s tenure expired, will also lose his current position. Čižnár has already announced that there will be a selection procedure to fill the post. One person who has been mentioned in connection with the post of deputy general prosecutor is René Vanek, Čižnár's current deputy at the Bratislava regional prosecutor’s office, Sme wrote. However, Vanek would not comment on whether he planned to apply for the job, which involves a selection procedure.
Tibor Šumichrast, the current head of the criminal law department, where Čentéš currently works as a deputy, is likely to lose his current job, Sme reported.
After a political and judicial tug-of-war lasting more than two years over one of the most powerful posts in the country, Čižnár was elected by ruling Smer party MPs on June 18. No opposition parties took part in the secret-ballot vote, arguing that the country already had a general prosecutor-elect: Čentéš, who was elected to the general prosecutor post by MPs in June 2011. However, President Ivan Gašparovič refused to appoint him, presenting what the opposition derided as insubstantial reasons for doing so.
A complaint lodged by Čentéš against the president’s refusal to appoint him is pending before the Constitutional Court, with Čižnár saying that he will step down to make way for Čentéš only if the court rules that he himself violated Čentéš’ civil rights by seeking election.
Čentéš responded to Čižnár's July 17 appointment by saying he was aware of events, but that he remained working at the general prosecutor’s office awaiting the Constitutional Court’s verdict.
Meanwhile, Čentéš said he would seek compensation of €150,000 from state for violating his right for equal access to public functions and harming his reputation. He added that he would give the money to charity, the SITA newswire wrote on July 18.
Sources: Sme, SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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