President Appoints Three New Judicial Council Members on Tuesday

Bratislava, July 16 (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini appointed three new members of the Judicial Council on Tuesday. These are Zuzana Cizova, Martin Puchalla and Adrian Kucek, TASR learnbt from the President Office's communication department on the same day. The two of them will replace Lucia Berdisova and Tomas Gabris who were dismissed by the president on Monday (July 15). They were appointed to their posts by former president Zuzana Caputova. One council member will replace Lajos Meszaros, whose term in office expired in June. "I wish that new Judicial Council members contribute to the high-quality performance of the independent judiciary so that people's trust in the Slovak judiciary increases," stated the president. The President's Office further informed TASR that Cizova has 24 years of experience and has been working as a lawyer for the past 20 years. She is a member of the Slovak Bar Chamber's (SAK) presidium and she also served as a member and disciplinary panels of judges. Puchalla, who has 19 years of experience, has been working as a lawyer and serving as the SAK president. He is the Justice Ministry's representative in committees for selection of judges. Kucek has been working as a lawyer for 15 years and holds the chair post in the SAK disciplinary panel. Judicial Council head Marcela Kosova on Monday (July 15) said that she hopes that the new members of the Judicial Council will be able to take up their posts as soon as possible so that the Council can carry out its decision-making activities. ko/mcs