Zeman appointed almost forty new judges at the Castle

President Miloš Zeman appointed almost forty new judges at Prague Castle on Wednesday. Most newcomers will head to the district of the Brno Regional Court. Former Advocate General Michal Bobek, who will strengthen the Supreme Administrative Court, is among those named. Zeman described the case of Robert Tempel, who was released from prison after his life imprisonment for a double murder last October. He called the case a warning.

Among the 39 people nominated by the Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek (ODS), 25 are women. A total of 20 candidates worked as assistant judges, 13 as judicial trainees, two as in-house lawyers, two as lawyers and one as a notary candidate.

14 newcomers will be added to the Regional Court in Brno, and ten to the district of the Prague Municipal Court. There will be five courts in the district of the Regional Court in Prague, three will go to the regional courts in Pilsen and Ústí nad Labem, two reinforcements will be won by the courts in the district of the Ostrava Regional Court and one district court in Pardubice, which falls under the Regional Court in Hradec Králové .

Forty-four-year-old Bobek, who is the oldest of the newly appointed, worked as an assistant to the President of the SAC before his office at the Court of Justice of the EU. He later taught European law at the University of Bruges, among other things.

Zeman recalled Tempel’s case, which was acquitted of murder charges for lack of evidence following interventions by the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court. He spent about 20 years in prison. “I believe that some judges feel like masters, if not over life and death, at least over freedom and non-freedom. It cannot be ruled out that some of them are treating their complexes,” he said. According to him, Tempel’s case excels in length, but it is no exception. He told the judges to take him as a warning. “Be confident, have no complexes and make fair decisions,” he added.

According to the constitution, a judge is appointed by the president. Blazek submitted the documents to Zeman on April 6. The list of candidates is always discussed by the government, because the president’s decision requires the co-signature of the prime minister. Zeman last appointed seven general court judges at the Lány chateau in January this year.