NGOs Urge Withdrawal of Amendment on Cooperating Defendants

Bratislava, 7 April (TASR) – Non-governmental organisations are calling for the withdrawal of an amendment to the Criminal Code concerning changes to the institution of the cooperating defendant, with the Let's Stop Corruption Foundation and Via Iuris having also launched a petition to collect signatures for a mass comment, as they consider the proposed changes to be incoherent and unconstitutional, TASR was told by the foundation's communications specialist Norbert Chomistek on Tuesday. The organisations warn that if the amendment is adopted in its proposed form, the state will lose a key tool for dismantling organised-crime structures and corruption networks. In addition, they emphasised that the changes directly contradict established judicial practice and case law, pointing to several risks. The NGOs argue that the proposal removes the right of cooperating defendants to refuse to testify, which they say runs contrary to the Slovak Constitution. They also criticise the setting of deadlines under which an accused person would have to surrender the financial proceeds of criminal activity within 180 days or lose all benefits, while also warning of possible interference in judicial independence. The requirement to corroborate testimony with other evidence, they say, directly interferes with the principle of the free evaluation of evidence by judges. "The ministry is attempting, in a short period of time, to push through further fundamental changes to an institution that was last amended only two years ago and hasn't yet been properly evaluated in practice, while the most recent changes from December of last year were suspended by the Constitutional Court," said Via Iuris director Katarina Batkova. mf/df