Specialised Criminal Court Challenges Constitutionality of New Evidence Rule

Kosice/Bratislava, 30 January (TASR) – The Specialised Criminal Court has filed two submissions with the Constitutional Court, asking it to review whether the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code concerning the inadmissibility of evidence obtained from cooperating defendants is constitutional. The court referred to a criminal case involving Nitra-based businessman Norbert B. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons —ed.note], charged in a bribery case. In its submissions, it objected to interference in judicial independence, a breach of the separation of powers and infringement of the right to judicial protection. It pointed out that the contested provision a priori excludes evidence obtained from a person who was granted concessions but who, in any criminal proceedings, failed to testify truthfully about essential facts or state all essential facts in their testimony. "If the Specialised Criminal Court expresses the conviction that this constitutes a constitutionally unacceptable interference in a court's decision-making activity, it does so on the basis of a disruption of the hitherto recognised and constitutionally guaranteed system under which, and in accordance with which, only independent and impartial courts decide on guilt and punishment, with the Criminal Procedure Code being the fundamental procedural regulation governing court proceedings," reads the court's statement. According to the Specialised Criminal Court, the contested provision makes it impossible for the court to hear a case and decide it on the merits independently. The relevant provision of the Criminal Procedure Code regulating the institution of a cooperating defendant was introduced by an amendment to the Criminal Code. It's also been challenged before the Constitutional Court by Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka, who has additionally proposed that its effectiveness should be suspended. Parliament adopted the amendment to the Criminal Code in December via a fast-track legislative procedure. Coalition MPs argued that the institution of cooperating defendants has been misused; for example, in the conviction of individuals on the basis of testimonies later shown to be unreliable. Due to the changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, the Specialised Criminal Court has suspended the bribery case trial of Norbert B. Another case on which the court based its submission to the Constitutional Court concerns an international criminal group and drug-related crime. mf/df