SaS Calls on Judicial Council to Condemn Attacks on Judges by Ruling Power

Bratislava, 24 April (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has called on the Judicial Council to condemn attacks on judges by government representatives, MP Maria Kolikova (SaS) told a news conference on Friday. In this regard, Kolikova referred, for example, to the case of judge Michal Kubis, against whom Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) filed a disciplinary complaint, and to the recently announced criminal complaint against judge Pamela Zaleska. "We remember very well the press conference and statements by [Interior Minister] Matus Sutaj Estok [Voice-SD], who said that action should be taken against this judge [Kubis], that he should face disciplinary proceedings and even criminal prosecution, and that he was abusing his power. He [Sutaj Estok] thus sent a message to the justice minister that action should be taken, and what did the justice minister do? He filed a disciplinary motion against this judge, proposing that his salary should be halved for six months, while claiming that he had committed a serious disciplinary offence. And now, please listen to the reason: because he was a fellow student of a plaintiff's lawyer," said Kolikova. Kolikova noted that the Supreme Administrative Court didn't uphold the motion, concluding that courts cannot examine in every case whether a judge studied at the same university as one of the parties involved. "I must also mention other attacks that were made against Specialised Criminal Court judge Jan Hrubala. Attacks were even made against the Constitutional Court chairman [Ivan Fiacan], when the Constitutional Court issued a ruling to suspend the effect of that shameful amendment to the Penal Code," said Kolikova, who views the attacks as unprecedented and thinks that the Judicial Council should intervene. ko/df