Petition in favour for Marica Pirosikova - EHCR

Petition in favour for Marica Pirosikova for election to the position of judge at the ECHR

To:  Council of Europe

On the 4. December 2013 the Slovak Government approved the Judicial council of the Slovak Republic proposal of candidates for the office of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judge as follows: JUDr. Andrea Krišková, JUDr. Ondrej Laciak, PhD. and JUDr. Marica Pirošíková.

On Friday 13th December 2013 and Monday 16th December 2013 statements and articles of Aliancia Fair-play´s Program Director - Zuzana Wienk were published regarding the candidature of three law experts for judge at the ECHR criticising the process of election and the candidates elected. We consider the decision of the Judicial Council which – after having examined the linguistic and professional skills - elected younger candidates, as correct. It can be hardly spoken about fulfilment of
personal prerequisites for those judges who agreed with the candidature for judge at the ECHR and who did not know how to answer the elementary questions from the ECHR case-law in languages, which they themselves stated in their Cvs.

Ms. Wienk inter alia refers to the candidature of Marica Pirošíková as "an incredible conflict of interest" as she holds the position of the Government" i.e. the party which, as shown by the ECHR decisions, has often violated the rights of citizens of the Slovak Republic and not only the Slovak citizens." This shows an absolute misunderstanding of the role of the Government Agent, as Ms. Pirošíková is not personally responsible for the wrong decisions of the national courts, including the Constitutional Court. On the contrary, it is Ms. Pirošíková which each year agrees with a number of friendly settlements in the obvious violations of human rights of the Slovak citizens and it is she who, in the executing of ECHR judgments, removes the consequences of breaches on the applicants. She proposes necessary legislative amendments and requires the Supreme and the Constitutional Court to harmonise their practice with the ECHR case-law. Within 13 years she has trained hundreds of judges and prosecutors resulting in their decisions being consistent with the case-law of the ECHR. Thus she ensures the prevention of violations of human rights at national level and reduction of numbers of submissions to the ECHR. She gives lectures on human rights also to attorneys and articled clerks and it is in great appreciation of her activities that she was nominated as a candidate by the Slovak Bar Association. We emphasize that the mere Council of Europe sends her to other Member States of the Council of Europe as an expert to give lectures on case-law of the ECHR and enforcement of judgments. She is a member of expert committees of the Council of Europe, where the changes of the texts of the Convention or recommendations are elaborated, which are subsequently approved by the
Committee of Ministers.

Our civil association called ‘Children Belong To Their Parents’ was established as a result of the media case concerning Martin and Samuel Boór, who were deprived of their parents without cogent reason and given for adoption. Based on the legal interpretation of the decisions of the courts
of Great Britain, from the perspective of the ECHR case-law and after consultation with John Hemming, it was Ms. Pirošíková who set up processes so as to successfully join the biological family and return the Boór children to Slovakia. After this event and the establishment of our association we keep on addressing our cases of children deprived without relevant reasons to the Office of Ms. Pirošíková. She is the only person who can assess the correctness of the decisions of the courts not
only in the UK but also in other countries of the Council of Europe. She examines each case  individually and sends us case-law which can subsequently be used by lawyers to defend the Slovak citizens in the states of the Council of Europe, and also in Slovakia. The ECHR case-law provided by Ms. Pirošíková has helped to reverse the procedure in favour of the biological family in cases of the unjustified removal of children. We have practical and very good experience of working with Ms. Pirošíková. She is the person we support to be elected as a judge to the ECHR, she understands the issue of human rights protection, she is a Professional with great language skills and the fact that she has been dealing with this issue in the long term and also at the governmental level is rather in her
favour, than to her detriment. Despite her high expertise she does not forget to be an empathetic person who understands people, who feels and believes that their human rights are being violated. The office of the Government Agent is addressed not only by us as a civil association called “Children Belong To Their Parents”, but also by the citizens of the Slovak Republic, whether living directly in the Slovak Republic or in other countries of the Council of Europe.

We therefore support the candidature of JUDr. Marica Pirošíková for a judge of the European Court of Human Rights."

On behalf of the civil association “Children Belong To Their Parents” and the people fighting against children being taken from their parents violently and unjustly and against the forced adoptions in the countries of the Council of Europe we signed under this declaration:

Children Belong To Their Parents    Contact the author of the petition