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Fair-play Alliance Criticises Justice Ministry for Bailing Out Judge
Monday 14 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 14 (TASR) - The Fair-play Alliance said on Monday it had filed a petition to the country's justice ministry asking it to order a judge in Michalovce (Kosice region) to repay the €5,000 fine the state paid on his behalf to the Constitutional Court for his tardiness in deciding on a case dating back 12 years.
Zuzana Wienk, head of Fair-play, has also applied via Justice Minister Viera Petrkova to examine this matter and hold Jozef Sorocina responsible for failing to return a judgement on the 12-year-old case for which he was penalised by the Constitutional Court on November 12. As well, he should be sacked as chairman of the district court in Michalovce.
Speaking at a news conference, Wienk also slammed the justice sector for conducting disciplinary proceedings against certain judges, and for criticising the status quo rather than against those responsible for the dilatory trial processes.
She stopped short, however, of answering the question whether Sorocina has close links to the Supreme Court chairman and Judicial Council chairman Stefan Harabin, except to say that Harabin had installed Sorocina on the bench in Michalovce – describing him as an excellent judge – and that Slovakia would be much better off if it had more judges like him.
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