Slovak News Back to the news
Zitnanska Presents Draft of Judges Act Amendment
Wednesday 25 August 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, August 25 (TASR) - Making court rulings public, selecting judges exclusively via transparent selection procedures and abolishing bonuses for judges feature among a proposed amendment to the Judges Act that Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska presented on Wednesday.
"These measures constitute possibly the largest opening up of the judiciary to public scrutiny," she said. "Obviously, to just replace people won't do and we need to set rules in a manner that won't create scope for intimidation, nepotism and corruption. We're suggesting system-based changes that will limit the scope for acting in an arbitrary manner," she added.
"The proposals stem from the Government Manifesto, and some judges have been approached for their opinions over the past three years," she asserted.
In line with the amendment, which should come into effect as of January 2011, rulings by general courts as well as the Constitutional Court will have to be made available to the public. Implementing the measure will take some time, so in the meantime courts will make their specific decisions available upon request. After a year, all rulings will be made public on the internet.
"We're laying the groundwork to make sure that selection procedures for judges will be open to all those who comply with the rules stipulated by law," she noted. It has also been proposed that CVs and cover letters should also be made available to the public.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.