General Prosecutor’s Office decided on halt to old cases

The General Prosecutor’s Office has decided how its prosecutors should proceed in accordance with the criminal amendment. The new and shorter limitation periods are to apply to old corruption cases that are still in pre-trial proceedings. While the opposition criticizes this and talks about the statute of limitations on cases, the coalition has responded that the General Prosecutor is autonomous.

Back in July, the Constitutional Court ruled that most of the amendments to the penal codes were in line with the Constitution. Following this, the General Prosecutor's Office issued guidelines for its prosecutors to act uniformly in pre-trial proceedings, the aktuality portal reported. The opposition in the statute of limitations talks about the possible halt to the coalition cases of, for example, Peter Žiga from the Voice of SD party or businessman Miroslav Výboh. If the cases were to reach a fair court review, it would also be better, according to Samuel Migal of Voice of SD. Judges have to deal with cases that are already in the courts themselves when applying statutes of limitations. Katarína Kudjaková, a spokeswoman for the Specialised Criminal Court, argues that the court's management is not allowed to interfere in the judges' decision-making.

"As a general rule, the criminal law in force at the time of the offence must be applied in a particular criminal case. The court must proceed under a later criminal statute only if it is more favourable to the accused. The favourability of the new criminal law must be assessed by the judge in the particular criminal case."

He says, adding that the Deputy Chief Justice has not issued any instruction on how judges should rule in specific cases.

Source: STVR