Region: Slovakia's justice minister sacks 14 judges

By Beata Balogová

For The Slovak Spectator

Presiding judges at 14 Slovak courts have been removed from the bench in a wide-ranging reshuffle initiated by Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská.

The dismissals came on the heels of a promise made by Žitňanská to take action against judges who were unable to explain or remedy failures in the operation of their courts, particularly in terms of delays in hearing cases.

Such procrastination, as it is known in the Slovak legal context, has long been the subject of complaints from both Slovak citizens and foreign investors.

Nine presidents of district courts and five regional court heads lost their senior positions as of May 11, with the minister saying that the court bosses in question had lost her trust.

Chairman of the Judicial Council and President of the Supreme Court Štefan Harabin, a longtime opponent of Žitňanská's plans to reform the judicial system, described the minister's move as a "political cleansing" of the judiciary and said that the loss of the minister's trust is not sufficient grounds under the law to fire a presiding judge.

Earlier this year, Žitňanská said she was taking a closer look at the performance of the courts in order to uncover the state of the judiciary in Slovakia.

Avoiding politics

The heads of the district courts in Banská Bystrica, Bratislava's third district, Čadca, Dolný Kubín, Košice's districts one and two, Veľký Krtíš and Žilina, along with heads of the regional courts in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica, Prešov, Trenčín and Žilina, were all dismissed. They will remain at their respective courts but serve as regular judges.

Last year, the state had to pay damages of more than 1.1 million euros based on rulings by the Constitutional Court related to the operation of the judicial system, and most of the money was paid out as compensation for unjustified delays.

When Žitňanská was asked earlier this year by The Slovak Spectator whether she was planning on reorganizing the judicial system, she said that first she had to ensure it was absolutely obvious that all the steps she took were completely legitimate.

Žitňanská also said she would try to avoid political decisions.

Many of the recalled judges were close allies of Harabin. Yet Žitňanská rejected the interpretation that she first sacked judges close to Harabin.

"I am not dividing judges into those who are close to Harabin and those who aren't," she said.

Žitňanská said she would take a closer look at other courts, as well. A recent revision to the Act on Judges and Judicial Assistants made it possible for the justice minister to remove judges.

One of the recalled chairs, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, "These are the most extensive personnel changes in the justice system since the times of [former Minister] Ján Čarnogurský," adding they are disrupting the course of justice.

Žitňanská also said she discussed the performance of the judges in question with them about a month ago, and that the ministry later published the results of the analyses on its website. She said this made her decisions quite predictable.

Beata Balogová can be reached at news@praguepost.com