KOSICE, January 28, (WEBNOVINY) — President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gasparovic has filed an objection of bias against the new panel of judges of the Constitutional Court, which is to decide on a complaint of Jozef Centes, whom the president refuses to appoint Prosecutor General, although parliament duly elected him a candidate for the post. Spokeswoman for the Constitutional Court Anna Pancurova confirmed this information on Monday. „Today, the Constitutional Court received an objection of bias from President Ivan Gasparovic, who is a party in a dispute, against judges of the Constitutional Court Jan Luby and Ladislav Orosz. We will keep the public and media informed about further steps in the proceedings,“ said Pancurova. The court did not disclose the reasons for which the president believes the two judges cannot decide the case objectively.
On January 3, the Constitutional Court received a complaint from Jozef Centes, in which he alleged a violation of his right of access to an elected and other public post under equal conditions and the right for preserving human dignity by President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gasparovic. He also asked the Constitutional Court to issue a preliminary injunction that would halt the election of a new candidate for the post in parliament until the Constitutional Court decides on his motion. The complaint was assigned to judge-rapporteur Peter Brnak, a member of the first panel, which works in the composition of Marianna Mochnacova, chairwoman and judges Peter Brnak and Milan Lalik. However, on January 9, the Constitutional Court received an objection from Jozef Centes of bias against judges Brnak and Lalik.
Based on this objection, on January 24, judges Brnak and Lalik were excluded from the case. It was assigned to new panel with Marianna Mochnacova as the presiding judge and Judges Jan Luby and Ladislav Orosz as its members. These two judges have signed a dissenting opinion to the decision of the Constitutional Court, which last year gave the president the opportunity not to appoint Centes as the duly elected candidate to the post of Prosecutor General.
SITA