Slovak Supreme Court proposed the incumbent president Štefan Harabin to be re-elected for one more term on April 15, the TASR newswire wrote.
Harabin was appointed as a judge on January 1, 1983. He later become justice minister and still later the chairman of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council. Harabin had already agreed with the candidacy, which is a pre-condition for the election.
The Association of Judges of Slovakia will debate the nominations for the post of Supreme Court head on April 16 in Košice, president of the association Dana Bystrianska told TASR. She added that other groupings and institutions may also propose candidates, and even though certain continuity would be welcomed, someone new might come with new ideas that could enchant the Judicial Council and convince them to elect him/her.
Harabin will not be the only candidate for this post in the May election, the Sme daily wrote. Also the "For the Open Judiciary" association will submit its proposal to the Judicial Council.
The opposition also urged the government to field its candidate through Justice Minister Tomáš Borec, so that Harabin gets regular rivals. “It would be also a message that the government does not stand behind Stefan Harabin,” commented ex-justice minister Lucia Žitňanská of Most-Híd, according to Sme. Borec, however, does not have any candidate as for now. On April 15, he failed to express his opinion about Harabin.
The Via Iuris civic association informed TASR that the European network of judicial council set requirements that every judge should fulfil, “and thus it is inevitable that the president of the Supreme Court should be a person with strong character and moral integrity, knowledge of law, humility and ability to listen to others,” Zuzana Čaputová of Via Iuris told TASR, adding that they consider many acts and statements of Harabin as conflicting the standards of a judge and inacceptable.
(Source: TASR, Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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