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Fico: State Can't Afford to Compensate Judges
Monday 15 February 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, February 15 (TASR) - The state budget can't bear the financial claims of judges who want to be compensated for alleged discrimination in salaries compared to judges of the erstwhile Special Court, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday.
The premier added that he therefore expects the Justice Ministry to present a solution. "Any notion of the state paying €100 million to judges as additions to their salaries, which are relatively high anyway, is completely unrealistic," said Fico.
At the same time, Fico - himself a lawyer - declined to comment on the legal aspect of the situation, labelling it a complicated legal dispute. "On one hand, somebody claims that it is discriminatory when certain judges had higher salaries than other judges; on the other hand, judges that are also involved in this dispute decide on the matter," Fico explained.
Based on the Non-discrimination Act, hundreds of judges have filed lawsuits pointing to the fact that the judges on the Special Court were receiving €4,000 per month more.
In early February, the Bratislava District court decided that the state is to pay almost €90,000 in compensation to Trencin Regional Court judge Ondrej Gaborik.
Former justice minister Daniel Lipsic (Christian Democrats/KDH), who founded the Special Court in 2004, criticised the notion of the Non-discrimination Act in the lawsuits, as the Act deals with discrimination based on sex, religious conviction, race, national and ethnic origin, age, health handicaps and sexual orientation. "Based on which of these reasons have the judges decided about the judges that weren't on the Special Court?" asked Lipsic, stressing that any judge could have applied for a post in the Special Court at the time.
Justice Minister Viera Petrikova has announced that the ministry will appeal against the ruling in the Gaborik case.
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