Judge Marcela Kosova has become the new chair of the Judicial Council after its members elected her at the council's session on Tuesday.
Thirteen of the 15 council members present at the session voted for Kosova, while one voted against her and one refrained from voting.
As her first task in her new post, Kosova said that she would like to visit all judges with whom her predecessor did not communicate. At the same time, she claimed that she has never deviated from pragmatism. She has not endlessly defended judges, but she has stood up for them against defamatory attacks.
Judicial Council member Lucia Berdisova, who voted against Kosova, reproached her, for example, for her non-constructive approach to the debate on the powers of the Judicial Council chair and to the way in which she answered the judges' questions.
Judicial Council member Peter Samko, who backed Kosova in the vote, defended this by saying that the Judicial Council chair should again be a judge. According to him, a long-term judge has the best prerequisites for the post.
Kosova was proposed for the post by six judicial representatives on the council. They stated that the Judicial Council head must be a person who will restore its apolitical character.
Kosova will replace Jan Mazak, who was dismissed from the chair post by council members at a council session in April. Mazak was also later dismissed from his Judicial Council member post by Parliament.
(TASR)
