The Judicial Council, a self-governing judicial authority, is no longer chaired by Ján Mazák following a quick vote on Tuesday.
“I respect the decision of the Judicial Council,” said Mazák, as quoted by the Aktuality.sk news website.
Seven members of the Council submitted a proposal to remove Mazák from the post last Friday, accusing Mazák of “exploiting the Research Department of the Judicial Council as his private detective service, which according to his illegal instructions, collected information on selected judges.” They added that this might have been the reason why he became the president of the Judicial Council.
Mazák denied abusing his authority.
Ten of 16 members present voted for Mazák’s dismissal from the top post. Ten votes were necessary for the vote to be successful indeed.
Last December, Mazák survived a similarly narrow vote.
Mazák left room before voting
Mazák, who didn’t stay for the vote on his future as the Council’s president on Tuesday, wasn’t given room to defend his tenure and work, despite requesting two weeks to study the proposal.
The group of judges that backed the vote and rejected Mazák’s demand feared that he would have tried to cover up his alleged wrongdoing and manipulate the case files.
“I’ll defend myself at the Constitutional Court with regard to the violation of several of my fundamental rights,” the former president said in response. “It’s the only way to confirm whether I committed the acts of which I’ve been accused, or whether they fell fully within my competence.”
In response to his decision, one of the judges and Judicial Council members, Dana Jelinková Dudzíková, said “I don’t care what legal means you’re going to use.”
Despite Mazák’s absence, the Sme daily writes that the debate about Mazák was rather emotional and his opponents didn’t spare criticism. Judge Ayše Pružinec Eren accused the ex-president of collaborating with former justice minister Mária Kolíková (SaS), former special prosecutor Daniel Lipšic, and Supreme Court President Juraj Kliment in an attempt to discredit several judges.
PM Robert Fico has been criticising Lipšic, Mazák and Kliment for a long time. Now that the Special Prosecutor’s Office has been abolished by Fico’s cabinet, the premier is targeting Kliment more often and wants him to face disciplinary action. The Special Prosecutor’s Office had prosecuted high-profile corruption, which also concerned the previous Smer-led governments. Some of these cases landed on Kliment’s table in the past.
Judge and Judicial Council member Marcela Kosová said on Tuesday that Mazák’s alleged ‘targeted digging’ is a bigger problem than attacks on judges coming from politicians.
“This is a threat to the rule of law, not the abolition of the Special Prosecutor’s Office, which wasn’t even an independent prosecutor’s office,” the judge opined. “This should disturb the European Commission and the European Parliament.”
Some of the judges stressed that Mazák’s version would also need to be heard, which wasn’t possible on Tuesday following his decision to leave the room, since the Council had refused to give him the requested time to prepare for his defence.
New Judicial Council member elected
Despite the vote, Mazák, who was nominated for member of the Council by parliament when the OĽaNO party was in power (2020-2023), remains on the body as one of the Council’s 18 members - for now. PM Fico is hoping that the parliament will replace him soon.
Of 18 members, nine are chosen by the judges. The president, government and parliament each select three members.
Mazák's replacement as president is unknown. Kosová’s rumoured to be eyeing the post.
On Tuesday, the coalition-controlled parliament elected university lecturer Jaroslav Klátik from Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica as a new member of the Judicial Council. He replaced Alena Svetlovská. The opposition pointed out that Klátik isn’t suitable for the job.
Opposition MP Lucia Plaváková (PS) noted that Fico’s coalition partner and future Slovak president, Peter Pellegrini (Hlas), will certainly replace the three members selected and appointed by President Zuzana Čaputová: Lajos Mészáros (2019), Lucia Berdisová (2021) and Tomáš Gábriš (2023). Pellegrini will assume office on June 15.
Last November, the government removed three members of the Judicial Council. They had been selected by the OĽaNO-led government. The removal of Mazák also shows that the government seems to be obtaining more influence in the judiciary body.
The Council can, among other things, criticise the government for moves that may threaten the judiciary.
“I fear that the Judicial Council, as a body of judicial legitimacy, will lose its ability to be an institution that is clearly and consistently on the side of honest and brave judges,” said opposition MP and ex-justice minister Kolíková.
The Council is adopting a new SMER (direction, ed.) as of today, she added, using the name of the major ruling party to underscore her point.
