Verbal attack on a judge and a phone call to the President of the Judicial Council
The Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, at its meeting held on 19 February 2025, adopted a resolution strongly rejecting, as the constitutional body of judicial legitimacy, the inappropriate comments made by actor Robert Roth to Judge Peter Pulman, which questioned the impartiality and independence of the judge, thereby undermining confidence in the fairness of judicial decision-making. The Judicial Council recalled that it is unacceptable to replace professional and factual criticism of judicial decisions with public attacks on judges. At the same time, it calls on public figures to refrain from calling into question the impartiality and independence of the judiciary by inadmissible attacks on specific judges.
"I always appreciate it when someone can apologise. I also stated this at the meeting in connection with the fact that Robert Roth addressed an email to the Judicial Council through the Peace Ukraine organisation, in which he said that he was sorry if part of his speech touched Judge Pulman or the judiciary", recalled the President of the Judicial Council, Marcela Kosova.
However, the Judicial Council, as a collective body, agreed that the statement in question could not be understood in any other way than as an attack on the person of the judge. The statement in question clearly shows that Judge Peter Pulman could not be expected to take Daniel Bombic into preventive detention.
Marcela Kosova registered information in the media according to which after the Judicial Council meeting a statement was published by Peace Ukraine that it would no longer respond to the Judicial Council. According to them, the actor Robert Roth clearly explained the sentence taken out of context and that is the end of the matter for them. If this is the case, then it is not clear why Lucia Stasselova of the Peace Ukraine initiative contacted the President of the Judicial Council, Marcela Kosova, by telephone after the Judicial Council meeting, directly on her mobile phone, the number of which she never provided. An official record of the incident has also been drawn up, where you can find out all the details. It is included in the annex of this press release, as well as the resolution approved by the Judicial Council on the verbal attacks on Judge Peter Pulman.
"I always appreciate it when someone can apologise. I also stated this at the meeting in connection with the fact that Robert Roth addressed an email to the Judicial Council through the Peace Ukraine organisation, in which he said that he was sorry if part of his speech touched Judge Pulman or the judiciary", recalled the President of the Judicial Council, Marcela Kosova.
However, the Judicial Council, as a collective body, agreed that the statement in question could not be understood in any other way than as an attack on the person of the judge. The statement in question clearly shows that Judge Peter Pulman could not be expected to take Daniel Bombic into preventive detention.
Marcela Kosova registered information in the media according to which after the Judicial Council meeting a statement was published by Peace Ukraine that it would no longer respond to the Judicial Council. According to them, the actor Robert Roth clearly explained the sentence taken out of context and that is the end of the matter for them. If this is the case, then it is not clear why Lucia Stasselova of the Peace Ukraine initiative contacted the President of the Judicial Council, Marcela Kosova, by telephone after the Judicial Council meeting, directly on her mobile phone, the number of which she never provided. An official record of the incident has also been drawn up, where you can find out all the details. It is included in the annex of this press release, as well as the resolution approved by the Judicial Council on the verbal attacks on Judge Peter Pulman.
