STS Chair Truban's Disciplinary Motion against Zaleska Contains Five Points

Banska Bystrica/Pezinok, 14 May (TASR) - Specialised Criminal Court (STS) chairman Michal Truban has filed a disciplinary motion against STS judge Pamela Zaleska, with two of the five points concerning serious disciplinary misconduct incompatible with judicial office, STS spokesperson Iveta Pulman Erdelyiova confirmed for TASR on Thursday after Sme daily first broke the news. The disciplinary motion of 28 April concerns, inter alia, the failure to deliver a request and an indictment, as well as lengthy proceedings by causing a delay of at least 106 working days. It also includes the failure to produce a written judgment and the failure to ask the court chair to extend the deadline for drafting a decision, plus lengthy proceedings delayed by at least 62 working days. In Truban's opinion, the serious disciplinary misconduct incompatible with judicial office involves "a significantly and seriously misinterpreted piece of evidence, with suspicions of an effort to adapt the content of evidence to the conclusion expected beforehand, thereby also indicating bias and doubts about the judge's impartiality". According to Truban, evidence was also misinterpreted when a decision on whether to remand in custody was made. The fifth point of the motion concerns serious disciplinary misconduct committed by failure to respect a legally binding opinion of the Constitutional Court. In April, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced plans to file a criminal complaint against Zaleska on suspicion of the abuse of public office, claiming that she ruled with bias in the case of former special prosecutor Dusan K. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons]. He also called for disciplinary charges to be filed against Zaleska. Following the premier's statements Zaleska said that she wouldn't respond to statements made by politicians, defendants or their legal representatives. According to her, for a judge, what is said in the courtroom is important, not what is said at press conferences or in the media. jrg/df