KOSICE, February 24, (WEBNOVINY) – The Supreme Court has violated the constitutional right of the publishing house Spolocnost 7 Plus to a judge picked in line with the law and a fair trial, decided the Constitutional Court Senate presided by Jan Luby on Thursday. The Constitutional Court has also canceled the contested Supreme Court’s decision. The case can no longer be returned for further proceeding.
Spolocnost 7 plus went to the Constitutional Court, after the Supreme Court decided on exclusion of judges of the Bratislava Regional Court Martin Murgas and Juraj Matej from the proceeding on an appeal against the Bratislava 5 District Court’s verdict based on the judge bias objection lodged by plaintiff [ex-justice minister and Supreme Court President Stefan Harabin. Harabin lodged a libel lawsuit against the company in 2008 over the title ‚Harabin Protects Murderers‘ of a story run by the Plus Jeden Den daily a in late May 2007. Harabin demanded 500,000 Slovak crowns (16,597 euro) compensation for pecuniary damage and publication of an apology.
The litigation at the Constitutional Court was protracted also because the defendant objected bias of the senate. The Constitutional Court accepted the objection only partially, excluding judge Ladislav Orosz from the case and replacing him by Rudolf Tkacik.
The Constitutional Court stated that by having accepted the bias objection against two judges, the Supreme Court had violated two articles of the Constitution; the article securing constitutional right of every person to seek protection of their rights at an independent court and the right to a judge picked in line with the law.
SITA