Who We Are And What We Do
ZOJ is an informal initiative of active and emeritus judges, established in 2009 to
rehabilitate the judiciary and enhance its credibility by promoting the three fundamental
pillars of the rule of law, which are Transparency, Fairness and Openness. This objective
is also reflected in the name of the judicial initiative "For Open Justice (ZOJ)".
From November 2011 to October 2017, ZOJ operated as a civil association under the name
"Judges for Open Justice". Based on the decision of the Conference of Members of the
Association of 20 October 2017, the transformation from a civil association to an informal
and independent judicial initiative "For Open Justice" took place again.
Our Core Values
We are here for everybody who is interested in the situation in our judiciary and who wishes to openly discuss this topic, share opinions free, give incentives and proposals to change.
Our motto are the words “For Open Judiciary“ and we continue in goals and documents of the initiative with this name, and also in activities of the civic initiative “Justice Opens Gates“ and the proclamation of judges “Five Sentences“.
We are determined to protect the interests of the judges against unjustified attacks from outside and inside the system. We succeeded with our activities protecting judges who according to our opinion were bullied and disciplinary prosecuted. However, protection of corporate interests of judiciary is not our primary goal. It is the improvement of the situation. We do not think that Slovak judiciary is in ideal condition and that nobody has the right to criticize it. We want to accept constructive criticism, to discuss it and accept ideas for improvement. On the other hand we also will resolutely refuse defamation of judiciary as a whole.
- Practices of courts in their decision-making, in the selection of new judges, in their career advancement, and in the evaluation of judges that are transparent and open to public scrutiny.
- Ensuring fair court proceedings in accordance with the law equally for all parties and participants in court proceedings.
- Opening the judiciary to public scrutiny.
Founders
The judges' initiative ZOJ was founded in October 2009 in Čierny Balog by the following judges:
Dagmar Valocká
ZOJ spokesperson, judge of the Trnava District Court, member of the Judges Evaluation Commission
Dušan Čimo
Judge of the Supreme Court of the SR
Elena Berthotyová
Judge of the Supreme Court of the SR, member of the Judicial
Council of the SR
Ján Hrubala
President of the Specialized Criminal Court
Pavel Rohárik
President of the Banská Bystrica District Court
Anton Jaček
President of the Regional Court in Trnava
Miroslav Gavalec
Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union
Juraj Babjak
Judge emeritus of the Regional Court in Banská Bystrica, former judge
of the Constitutional Court of the SR
Ľudmila Babjaková
Judge emeritus of the Regional Court in Košice, former member
of the Judicial Council of the SR
Rudolf Čirč
Suspended judge of the Supreme Court of the SR
Darina Kuchtová
Judge of the Regional Court in Bratislava, member of the Judges Evaluation Commission
Mária Tóthová
Judge emeritus and former president of the Trenčín District Court
Milan Trylč
President of the Senica District Court
Edita Szabová
Judge emeritus of the Regional Court in Bratislava
Supporters
Gradually, other colleagues joined us, supporting the activities of ZOJ. As of 19.4.2021 the following judges from ZOJ supporters agreed to publish their names:
Iveta Záleská
President of the Regional Court in Trenčín
Marta Rybárová
Judge emeritus of the Trenčín District Court
Kristína Glezgová
Judge Emeritus of the Lučenec District Court, member of the Judges Evaluation Commission
Ľudovít Bradáč
Former president of the Regional Court in Banská Bystrica, member of the Judicial Council of the SR
Igor Belko
Judge of the Supreme Court of the SR
Pavol Farkaš
Judge of the Supreme Court of the SR
Peter Hatala
Judge of the Supreme Court of the SR
Jana Hatalová
Judge of the Supreme Court of the SR
Daniela Baranová
Judge of the Prešov District Court
Marián Vorobel
Judge of the Prešov District Court
Mária Laufová
Judge emeritus of the Liptovský Mikuláš District Court
Maroš Fekete
Judge of the Bratislava III District Court
Barbora Barteková
Judge of the Regional Court in Bratislava
Jana Veselá
Judge of the Dolný Kubín District Court
Dáša Kontríková
Judge of the Regional Court in Trnava, member of the Judges Evaluation Commission
Karol Posluch
Judge of the Bratislava III District Court
Filip Demo
Visiting judge for the Regional Court in Nitra
Pavol Barabas
Visiting judge for the circuit of Regional Court in Košice
Ľubomíra Krchníková
Judge of the Pezinok District Court
Michaela Štiglicová
Judge of the Pezinok District Court
Magdaléna Balážová
Judge of the Lučenec District Court
Our deceased colleagues
Were also founders and sympathizers of ZOJ:
Juraj Majchrák
Former Deputy president of the Supreme Court of the SR
Milan Růžička
Former president of the Veľký Krtíš District court
Anna Benešová
Judge of the Regional Court in Bratislava
Pavol Sládok
Judge of the Regional Court in Trnava
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