The Constitutional Court on Wednesday decided to suspend the recently approved major amendment to the Penal Code and part of the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law.
The court has accepted President Zuzana Caputova's and several opposition parties’ motion to examine the constitutionality of the amendment. One of the reasons for the Court was the potential ‘irreversibility’ of certain consequences of the law, if it were to take effect.
The Court did not suspend the law to close the Special Prosecutor’s Office.
The newspaper Dennik N claims to have a copy of the decision by the Constitutional Court, in which it explains its decision to suspend a law before it is published. This is unprecedented, and the Court defended itself by saying it is not expressing an opinion on the constitutionality of the law. It said that the suspension was necessary because if the law went into effect, it would immediately have major consequences which would be irreversible.
It added that if the law were adopted, and then overturned by the courts, there would be a large set of rules changing in a very short time. Criminal law is too important to risk chaos, it said.
Another reason for the Court to intervene was the real threat that the Constitutional Court's authority to suspend the effectiveness of laws would be undermined in this case.
It also pointed out that the government and parliament hurried through an amendment to the amendments, before the amendment was published. In other words, they didn’t bother with publication in the Collection of Laws. (Dennik N, TASR)
