MILAN Karabin, the chief justice of Slovakia’s Supreme Court, said that despite a promise by Prime Minister Robert Fico to finance a reconstruction of the court's premises, the work is being held up by the building's administrator, Justice Minister Štefan Harabin.
Karabin said the Supreme Court needed one of its courtrooms to be turned into a multipurpose room where judges could work with classified information.
Last month, Fico promised to allocate the money from the government's reserve fund. However, nothing has yet happened, because reconstruction work is subject to approval by the building's administrator, and the Justice Ministry has not responded to an application from the Supreme Court.
Karabin and Harabin have been at loggerheads since the latter took office last July, with Karabin accusing the minister of trying to bully the court.
"This proves Minister Harabin's ignorance," Karabin said, adding that he had already informed Fico of the communication problems with Harabin. The prime minister promised to discuss the problem with Harabin soon.
The ministry's spokesperson, Michal Jurči, argued that the ministry had still not received a reconstruction project from the court.
