BRATISLAVA, February 7, (WEBNOVINY) – The strongest opposition party SMER-SD plans to file a motion to the Constitutional Court where it wants to contest the Justice Ministry’s draft amendment to the law on prosecutor office. “This is clearly political influencing of selection procedures at the prosecutor office, which has nothing to do with the independent position of the prosecution as such,“ said SMER-SD MP Robert Madej at a press conference this Monday questioning the constitutionality of the law. Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska and Prime Minister Iveta Radicova introduced the draft earlier on Monday.
The draft amendment, which has been undergoing interdepartmental review since Friday, introduces changes which should, according to the Justice Minister, result in more transparent work of prosecutors. Madej does however not agree and thinks that the coalition will interfere in the independence of the prosecution through the law. “We document this with the fact, that the ruling coalition will try to decide upon who will and who will not become the prosecutor in Slovakia,” claims Madej. He points out that selection commissions will be constructed purely politically. “And it will be one member of the Parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, which will propose one member of the selection commission. Two members will be proposed by the Justice Minister. More than a half of the members of a commission, which will decide about prosecutors, about who will become a prosecutor, will thus be a political grouping of the ruling coalition,” said Madej.
The MP does not agree either with abolishing the institution of prosecutor candidates and with the introduction of a new system of assistants. “What we see is that the ruling coalition has a problem with young people, who are seeking specialization and are preparing for the occupation at the department of prosecution, similarly as at the judiciary sector,” concluded Madej.
SITA