ZOJ Urges Kosova to Challenge Penal Code Amendments before Constitutional Court

Bratislava, 2 January (TASR) - The 'For an Open Judiciary' (ZOJ) judges association has called on Judicial Council chair Marcela Kosova to appeal to the Constitutional Court with regard to changes concerning the assessment of testimonies from cooperating defendants, TASR was told by ZOJ spokesperson Katarina Javorcikova on Friday. In its response to TASR, the Judicial Council stated that ZOJ's request doesn't make it clear as to where it can see specific inconsistencies with the Constitution. The council added that if Kosova reaches the conclusion that there's a need to turn to the Constitutional Court on any matter concerning the administration of justice, she'll do so without being urged by anyone. "In ZOJ's informal initiative, it's not even clear where specifically Katarina Javorcikova sees a conflict with the Slovak Constitution or any particular international treaty," stated the Judicial Council. Javorcikova warned that if the use of certain testimonies as evidence is prohibited, a court's authority to evaluate every piece of evidence is denied, while this fundamental principle of criminal procedure has been applied in Slovakia for at least 125 years. "We regret to see that the Judicial Council, the constitutional body of the judiciary's legitimacy, hasn't presented its own public stance regarding this gross interference in constitutional principles," stated Javorcikova, adding that the court should examine compliance with the Constitution and international human rights treaties. Via a fast-track legislative procedure, Parliament recently approved an amendment to the Penal Code with several changes added to the bill by House committees. The legislation also amended the rules for cooperating defendants. Under the new rules, if cooperating defendants have lied or withheld information during other proceedings, courts won't be able to take their testimony into account. jrg/df