Reaction of Marcela Kosová, President of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, to the suspension of criminal prosecution against judges
On 27 June 2025, Judge Andrea Haitová and Judge Otília Doláková informed the Judicial Council that the resolutions to suspend their criminal prosecution had become final on 21 June 2025 and 26 June 2025, respectively.
The police operation ‘Storm’ took place in the early hours of 11 March 2020. This was followed by further police operations and the subsequent arrests of judges. Despite the fact that fourteen judges were charged by the Prosecutor General's Office in March 2020, to date, none of them have been legally convicted based on evidence presented in court.
On the contrary, criminal proceedings against three of the accused judges have been legally stopped. One of them is the former president of the Bratislava V District Court, Dušan Srogončík, who, after decades of his workin the judiciary, was forced into retirement in disgrace as an accused person. Some judges have been unlawfully acquitted, some have had their indictments dismissed, and some have not even been charged yet.
The chair of the Judicial Council points out that the detained judges were ‘convicted’ almost immediately by many journalists, public officials, and the public. This continued for years, which in practice meant that they were not allowed to judge and many still are not, as if there were no presumption of innocence.
Marcela Kosová recalled:
"I remember exactly how, on 12 March 2020, Ján Mazák, who subsequently became a member of the Judicial Council and its President, wrote these frightening words: 'Why are judges´ councils not sitting throughout Slovakia? Where are the loud voices of the Association of Judges of Slovakia? Not that I hadn't known for a long time, or rather suspected, that such a development in cleaning up the Augean stables of the Slovak judiciary was coming, but still.‘ And also: ’It is highly probable, almost certain, that these judges will be charged, prosecuted and even convicted. Moreover, it is by no means certain whether the plague of selling justice has only affected the Bratislava region or whether it can be expected to spread to other regions and districts."
President Marcela Kosová went on to point out that it should not be forgotten that the so-called new judicial map of December 2020 was intended to ‘break the corrupt ties in the judiciary’ and also abolish the Regional Court in Bratislava. According to the then Minister of Justice, Mária Kolíková, this was a systemic issue and therefore the entire judicial system had to be changed. "We listened and read about the mass arrests of judges, the cleaning of the Augean stables, the corruption octopus. The arrest of judges had been part of the European Commission's Rule of Law Reports for several years,‘ Kosová explains.
’Will anyone ever apologise to these judges? Will anyone ever apologise to the entire judiciary? Will anyone ever apologise to the citizens for being lied to and misled? Will anyone ever apologise to the small handful of judges who did not succumb and tirelessly pointed out the need to uphold the presumption of innocence, for which we were labelled “defenders of corrupt judges”? Will many journalists apologise to everyone? Who will give back to the judges the years when they were insulted, ostracized and discredited? If anyone wants to know how the rule of law can be undermined, this is exactly how," concluded the President of the Judicial Council.
The police operation ‘Storm’ took place in the early hours of 11 March 2020. This was followed by further police operations and the subsequent arrests of judges. Despite the fact that fourteen judges were charged by the Prosecutor General's Office in March 2020, to date, none of them have been legally convicted based on evidence presented in court.
On the contrary, criminal proceedings against three of the accused judges have been legally stopped. One of them is the former president of the Bratislava V District Court, Dušan Srogončík, who, after decades of his workin the judiciary, was forced into retirement in disgrace as an accused person. Some judges have been unlawfully acquitted, some have had their indictments dismissed, and some have not even been charged yet.
The chair of the Judicial Council points out that the detained judges were ‘convicted’ almost immediately by many journalists, public officials, and the public. This continued for years, which in practice meant that they were not allowed to judge and many still are not, as if there were no presumption of innocence.
Marcela Kosová recalled:
"I remember exactly how, on 12 March 2020, Ján Mazák, who subsequently became a member of the Judicial Council and its President, wrote these frightening words: 'Why are judges´ councils not sitting throughout Slovakia? Where are the loud voices of the Association of Judges of Slovakia? Not that I hadn't known for a long time, or rather suspected, that such a development in cleaning up the Augean stables of the Slovak judiciary was coming, but still.‘ And also: ’It is highly probable, almost certain, that these judges will be charged, prosecuted and even convicted. Moreover, it is by no means certain whether the plague of selling justice has only affected the Bratislava region or whether it can be expected to spread to other regions and districts."
President Marcela Kosová went on to point out that it should not be forgotten that the so-called new judicial map of December 2020 was intended to ‘break the corrupt ties in the judiciary’ and also abolish the Regional Court in Bratislava. According to the then Minister of Justice, Mária Kolíková, this was a systemic issue and therefore the entire judicial system had to be changed. "We listened and read about the mass arrests of judges, the cleaning of the Augean stables, the corruption octopus. The arrest of judges had been part of the European Commission's Rule of Law Reports for several years,‘ Kosová explains.
’Will anyone ever apologise to these judges? Will anyone ever apologise to the entire judiciary? Will anyone ever apologise to the citizens for being lied to and misled? Will anyone ever apologise to the small handful of judges who did not succumb and tirelessly pointed out the need to uphold the presumption of innocence, for which we were labelled “defenders of corrupt judges”? Will many journalists apologise to everyone? Who will give back to the judges the years when they were insulted, ostracized and discredited? If anyone wants to know how the rule of law can be undermined, this is exactly how," concluded the President of the Judicial Council.
