Government Selects Three New Members of Judicial Council (2)

Bratislava, November 2 (TASR) - The government at its session on Thursday ousted Eva Misikova, Ludovit Bradac and Katarina Javorcikova from their posts as members of the Judicial Council and will replace them with Ludmila Joanidisova, Martin Bezak and Magdalena Hromcova. "The proposed candidates meet all constitutional and legal criteria to be appointed to the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic," reads the approved material. Hromcova served on the Judicial Council between 2018-2020 under the previous Smer-led government. She and Bezak are attorneys by profession, while Jaonidisova is a notary. The personnel changes were criticised by Progressive Slovakia vice-chair Lucia Plavakova, who perceives them as the continuation of law enforcement purges, set to spill over also into the judiciary. "The Judicial Council has powers over the staffing of courts. So next in the crosshairs will likely be judges whose decisions are uncomfortable to the current Government and Smer-SD's clique of "our people" [a reference to a scandal in 2012 when convicted tax fraudster Ladislav Basternak was caught violating traffic laws in his Bugatti Veyron by a police patrol. After Basternak made a phone call, the rank-and-file officers were instructed by their superiors on the telephone to let Basternak go without fining him because he was "our person" - ed.note]. The Judicial Council is a constitutional body made up of 18 members, including the chair and vice-chair. Judges of the Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court elect one member each, while eight members are elected by judges from other courts and three members each are selected by the president, parliament and government. mf