President Appoints Mamojka, Lassakova and Duris as Constitutional Judges

Bratislava, December 14 (TASR) – President Andrej Kiska on Thursday appointed Mojmir Mamojka (67), Jana Lassakova (65) and Miroslav Duris (51) as constitutional judges for a 12-year period, TASR learnt on the same day.

Mamojka and Lassakova were nominated to the post by the governing Smer-SD party while Duris was nominated by the Chamber of Notaries.

The Slovak Constitutional Court will thus be complete after almost three years.

Kiska wished the new Constitutional judges a lot of energy and power in carrying out the mission in the most important judicial institution. He stressed that they shoulder great responsibility as of this day, as in each democratic state the Constitutional Court is considered to be the most important judicial authority that protects the rights and freedoms of the people.

“It’s true that you have waited for my decision on your appointing a little longer [than usual]. I would like to express hope that our country will eventually benefit from this waiting and that your work will contribute to strengthening the Constitutional Court’s authority in the eyes of both the professional and wider public,” Kiska told the new constitutional judges.

The ceremony was attended by Parliamentary constitutional committee chairman Robert Madej (Smer-SD) and Constitutional Court chair Ivetta Macejkova.

“I welcome it and I also thanked the president for deciding what he decided and appointing the three new colleagues. I welcome them on behalf of both myself and my colleagues. It’ll help us very much, as the situation has reached a state of stand off and the judges have been overworked,” said Macejkova.

The new constitutional judges are set to start working as early as the following day.

By appointing the three new constitutional judges, Kiska put an end to a three-year dispute he has had with Parliament. The president had serious reservations against the qualifications of the candidates elected by the House.

Last week the Constitutional Court’s first senate ruled that Kiska will have to appoint the remaining three constitutional judges from candidates he refused to appoint in the past. Despite the president’s severe criticism of the court’s ruling he decided to appoint Mamojka, Lassakova and Duris.

Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) responded to Kiska’s decision by saying that the president can’t appoint both Mamojka and Lassakova, as these two candidates were nominated for a single post.