Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on a video posted on a social network on Thursday that he respects the Constitutional Court's decision to suspend the effect of an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code concerning the inadmissibility of evidence from cooperating defendants, adding that he'll wait for the ruling on the matter at hand.
"I just want to reiterate that if any Constitutional Court judge or the prosecutor-general were to encounter the practices of cooperating defendants in their own case, they would have a completely different opinion," stated Fico.
According to him, further public presentations of how cooperating defendants have "gone rogue" might be necessary to make the Constitutional Court and the prosecutor-general understand "what atrocities they've committed" and why their witness testimonies can't be trusted.
Fico added that he himself, as well as many others from his political camp, have had first-hand experience with these "dirty practices".
House Vice-Chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) agrees with the provisions on cooperating defendants, explaining that he's not the originator of the proposal, but identifies with it, as he believes it would be helpful for justice.
"There are many cases in which cooperating defendants have admitted that they didn't tell the truth and that their testimonies were manipulated. This is what we want judges to take into account. We're not interfering in their decision-making with these provisions," he said.
According to Gaspar, he's had heard that some Constitutional Court judges hold differing views on this issue; so, there's a need to wait for the final stance. Gaspar stressed that he'll respect the court's ruling in this matter. "If it turns out that these provisions are raising doubts and the court tells us what needs to be changed again, we'll respect that and will have to make changes. If we want to preserve the rule of law, we must respect the Constitutional Court's decisions," added Gaspar.
The Constitutional Court has suspended the effect of the amendment concerning the inadmissibility of evidence obtained from a cooperating defendant. It didn't grant a request to suspend the remainder of the amendment to the Criminal Code adopted by Parliament last December. The decision relates to a submission by a group of opposition MPs, which the court has accepted for further proceedings.
Source: TASR
