BRATISLAVA, March 14, (WEBNOVINY) — The Slovak government considers inadmissible the complaint of Supreme Court President Stefan Harabin, in which he is suing Slovakia for damages of 150,000 euros at the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg for being disciplinary punished. The Constitutional Court punished him on June 29, 2011 by reducing his salary by 70 percent for one year for repeatedly not allowing the Finance Ministry to audit the Supreme Court. In September 2011, Harabin filed a complaint, which the European Court for Human Rights accepted for preferential handling. After being invited by the court in January 2012, the government expressed its stance towards it on March 9 while it marked the complaint inadmissible because it believes it represents abuse of the right to file a complaint. “We think that the complainer is misleading the EU court in key matters,” stated State Secretary at the Justice Ministry Maria Kolikova (SDKU-DS). According to her, Harabin misled the court about the legal regulation that is valid for disciplinary proceedings against Supreme Court President. According to the stance of the government, the complainer intentionally withheld the fact that the impossibility to appeal to a higher instance is in this case stipulated directly in the Constitution.
According to the government, Harabin is misleading the European court in relation to the resolution of the European Association of Judges as of September 4, 2011, in which they expressed their concern over reform of the Slovak judiciary that the changes may lead to increased influence of the executive branch on the judicial power. The government’s stance says that Harabin as the complainer withheld that statements in the resolution are not based on the actual state of matters and stem from apparently untrue facts.
The state secretary also mentioned another conclusion of the government’s stance according to which Harabin is also misleading the court in the assertion that his opinion is consistent on whether to allow or not to allow an audit of the Finance Ministry in the court. The government says that Harabin in 2009 respected lawful duties about the financial inspection and internal audit and adopted measures to improve shortcomings found within the government’s audit. He submitted to the Finance Ministry a written report about their fulfillment. However, in 2010 he reject another prepared audit saying that the Finance Ministry is not authorized to carry it out.
In the history of the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, there has not been preferentially accepted a complaint that would be later marked “as inadmissible for the reason of abuse of the right to file a complaint” as it is claimed by the caretaker government of Iveta Radicova, Supreme Court President Stefan Harabin said in a response. “I therefore challenge Deputy Chairwoman of a Gorilla party, Ms. Lucia Zitnanska and advocate of terrorists, Ms. Kolikova to publicly promise that they will pay together the damages from their political revenge from their own pocket and will not throw it on the citizens,” Harabin added in his response to the government’s stance.
Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska (SDKU-DS) has filed four disciplinary motions against Harabin, while three have not been decided yet. “I perceive this as violation of the right to a fair trial, as procedures of the Slovak Constitutional Court are absolutely unpredictable,” thinks Kolikova adding that the Constitutional Court interrupts proceedings in cases which the law does not foresee such course of action. She also mentioned the disciplinary proposal which the justice minister filed against Harabin for the fact that the Slovak Supreme Court did not appeal in cases of discriminatory motions of judges. She said that in this matter, the Constitutional Court has not done anything for eight months.
Harabin’s motion has 52 pages and contains several objections. He complains that he has become a victim of willful, politically motivated and discriminatory procedure. He requires to be given back 50,000 euros which he lost as a result of the punishment and compensation of 100,000 euros for moral harm.
SITA