By: Sara Rančigaj / Nova24tv
Constitutional Judge Rok Čeferin is convinced that acceptable criticism of judges should not exist in a democracy, and he also believes that the current government does not respect this. “In democracies, there should be limits to acceptable criticism of judges, but our government does not respect these limits,” Constitutional Court Judge Rok Čeferin told the newspaper. He goes on to point out that they are the target of discredits, humiliations, and insults if they do not make the right decision. Namely, Čeferin’s amateurish work also came under the scrutiny of eminent legal experts, as Čeferin decided in a case in which he should have been previously excluded, and this was not an isolated case. Due to this kind of commentary on current political issues, a number of responses have emerged. The explanations of the Constitutional Court regarding the statements of Judge Čeferin are also expected in the editorial board of Nova24TV.
“Recently, the Constitutional Court has been under the offensive of both the media under the influence of the SDS, and their prominent members,” Dnevnik was convinced some time ago. As they said, Rok Čeferin is the main target. Among other things, the Foreign Ministry said that Čeferin was a case that could affect the appearance of judicial independence. They are convinced that it was an artificial affair involving Čeferin’s co-determination on the case of the applicant, who unsuccessfully applied for a lawyer’s license at a time when Čeferin was one of about twenty members of the Bar Association’s board of directors.
The case came before the Constitutional Court, and Čeferin’s name was mentioned nowhere in the documentation, as only the president of the Bar Association signed the decision. As they said, Čeferin allegedly “accidentally” participated in the senate. The story was slightly different, as Siol and Požareport published the information, and the Constitutional Court later publicly explained that it was a mistake, which we have already written about. The European Court of Justice later published a letter on its website calling on Slovenia to state its position on the alleged breach of the procedure, which should be fair.
Constitutional Judge Rok Čeferin made a mistake when he ruled twice in the case of citizen Petar Kodrič and found himself in a conflict of interest. The mistake was discovered when Kodrič’s case appeared at the hearing of the European Court of Human Rights. Due to the stormy response, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia informed the public that an error and mistake had been made. “Rok Čeferin should resign from the position of constitutional judge in order to take care of the integrity of the Constitutional Court, if not his own!”, the host of the show Kdo vam laže Boris Tomašič was convinced.
The Constitutional Court has regularly opposed government measures to curb the epidemic
Due to the epidemic, Janša gave his opinion on Twitter regarding the decisions of the Constitutional Court. “Congratulations, really. During the 3rd wave of the epidemic, when the basic danger is posed by new variants of coronavirus and their import from foreign hotspots, the luxury of one of the first-class Aleš Zalar is more important to the Constitutional Court than the health and lives of thousands of second-rate citizens,” he criticized on Twitter.
Čeferin is of the opinion that Janša crossed the border with his tweets. “In democracies, there should be limits to acceptable criticism of judges, but our government does not respect those limits,” Constitutional Court Judge Rok Čeferin told the newspaper. “We are discredited, humiliated, and insulted every time we make a decision that the Government, the Prime Minister and, in some cases, his closest associates do not like.” Janša is convinced that the left is introducing its “perverted policy” with which they deliberately wanted to spread the epidemic, but before that he has repeatedly expressed the opinion that the Constitutional Court does not take into account the epidemic. Tomaž Vesel, President of the Court of Audit, also spoke to the media. Namely, Vesel is convinced that the government only wants a pogrom against him, as he has checked the purchase of protective equipment. On the other hand, Janša is convinced that Vesel should not perform two functions – one as the president of the Court of Audit and the other as an afternoon activity at FIFA, but the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption rejected this.
On the other hand, we are witnessing extremely offensive appearances of well-known faces. This Friday, for example, singer Zlatko verbally attacked President Borut Pahor in the street. “Borut Pahor, the silent, fuc* off! Did you hear. Fuc* off! Go home and there will be peace! And also that the police come, yuck! Well, do not talk to me about culture now! Hojs, you also fuc* off, stink! Take away his cultural status! Hang it up here! If you feel what I am telling you, do me only one favour: when the elections come, please cast your vote and be on the side of justice and be on the side of the free!” These were the vile, vulgar, verbal attacks that the “politically impartial” hip hop performer Zlatan Čordić – Zlatko indulged in yesterday, in a riot in support of Palestinian terrorism, on which, among other things, the Israeli flag was trampled on.