SaS Criticises Judicial Council for its Stance on European Commission's Report

Bratislava, September 19 (TASR) - Opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party lambasted the Thursday's statement issued by the Judicial Council on the European Commission's report on the rule of law in Slovakia, finding it unacceptable and undignified for the Judicial Council to criticise the report, TASR learnt from SaS spokesperson Ondrej Sprlak. According to SaS, the Judicial Council challenges the trustworthiness of the European Commission's report, denigrates it grossly and has thus joined politics, picking the current coalition as its partner. "The same coalition that has released from jail an individual who is lawfully convicted for corruption, reduced punishments for corruption, bullied inconvenient judges at its press conferences and cast doubt over the Specialised Criminal Court as an institution. With this stance, the Judicial Council has revealed itself as a biased institution," declared SaS vice-chair Maria Kolikova. At its session on Thursday, the Judicial Council voted unanimously for a resolution that proclaims the European Commission's report on the rule of law in Slovakia biased and not really reflecting reality in Slovakia. Several Judicial Council members criticised the European Commission's stance on the Slovak courtmap reform, claiming that the Commission ignores problems with the reform, and objected also to the Commission's stance on the scrapping of the Special Prosecutor's Office and changes to the Penal Code. mf