Six years have passed since the police operation „Búrka“

On 11 March 2020, the police operation „Búrka“ (Storm) was carried out by the unit known as „Hmla“ (Fog). The operation took place in the early morning hours, during which thirteen judges and one former judge were detained. All of them were charged on the basis of the testimony of a cooperating judge (a so-called cooperating witness) who was not among those detained. Further arrests of judges followed at a later stage of the operation. 

The judges had been charged two days before their detention, without having any knowledge of the charges and without having been summoned for questioning. They were escorted away in handcuffs during live media coverage. Several media outlets reported on the events in a manner that was in clear contradiction to Recommendation Rec (2003) 13 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, without respecting the presumption of innocence and without respecting their right to the protection of privacy guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

“Despite the fact that fourteen judges were charged in March 2020, to this day none of them has been finally convicted based on evidence examined before a court,” recalled Marcela Kosová, President of the Judicial Council. “On the contrary, in the past year, criminal proceedings against additional judges have been finally discontinued,” she added. 

The judges were charged with criminal offences including corruption, interference with the independence of the court, and obstruction of justice. At the time, former Minister of Justice and former Minister of the Interior Daniel Lipšic stated that he considered the institution of the cooperating accused to be important and that “this investigation shows that without this instrument it would not have been possible to dismantle large, organized groups.” It now appears, however, that the mass arrests of judges carried out in the storm and fog were an interference with the independence of the judiciary rather than its purification. 

“Many judges were held in pre-trial detention for years; they have been, and continue to be, publicly discredited, removed from their court files, and ostracized from society, yet no one has so far apologized to them or to their families. You may present the public with overwhelming evidence showing that they committed no wrongdoing. It will not change the public´s view of what the public considers to be a corrupt judiciary. Who will ever be held accountable for this?” concluded Marcela Kosová, President of the Judicial Council.