JUSTICE Minister Ján Čarnogurský says he is considering sacking Trnava District Court Judge Marian Kusý for being inactive in a case concerning two alleged mob boss brothers in the upper Nitra region.
Karol and Ivan M. from Prievidza have been in pre-trial custody since 1999. But they were released from custody two weeks ago through a January 18, 2002 Supreme Court verdict condemning the lack of progress by the lower court.
The problem, according to the minister, had been Judge Kusý, who refused to deal with the case; as a result, Čarnogurský has initiated disciplinary proceedings against him. The proceedings are expected to take up to three months and may result in permanent removal of the judge from judicial ranks.
Daniel Lipšic, head of Justice Ministry office, said that Kusý had "against the law decided to push the case higher to the Regional Court in Trenčín despite an earlier Supreme Court ruling which said the case belonged to the District Court in Trnava".
The two brothers were charged with extortion and a range of violent crimes. Former chief police investigator Jaroslav Ivor said that the brothers were linked to jailed mobster boss Mikuláš Černák.
When asked if he had been afraid to take on the case Kusý said: "This is a very hypothetical question," but added that he did not want to "do someone else's dirty work".
However, Čarnogurský denied claims made by police corps vice-president Jaroslav Spišiak that the courts were "the weakest point in the fight against organised crime".
The minister said that cases involving underworld figures were very complicated, and that the courts often had problems with poor police investigative work.
He added, however, that it was "unsuitable" for the police and the courts to accuse each other.
