The disciplinary appellate chamber rules on an appeal in disciplinary cases for the first time

The Disciplinary Appellate Chamber of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, at today’s public session, dismissed the appeal against the decision of the first-instance disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, by which the judge of the District Court of Zvolen Dalibor Miľan found guilty. The first-instance disciplinary chamber imposed a disciplinary measure on him, namely a 60 % reduction in his salary for a period of one year. The applicant, the President of the Zvolen District Court, appealed against the decision, as she proposed the most severe disciplinary measure for the judge, namely dismissal from his office as a judge (Case No 41 Do 2/2023).

Judge of the District Court of Zvolen Dalibor Miľan was found guilty at the end of last year by the first-instance disciplinary chamber, as he had committed a continuing serious disciplinary offence. According to the members of the first-instance disciplinary chamber, the disciplinarily accused judge, while performing his duties as a judge, repeatedly and intentionally violated his duty to refrain from anything that could undermine the dignity and respectability of the office of judge and jeopardise confidence in the independent, impartial and fair decision-making of the courts. According to the first-instance decision, the judge also failed to observe the principles of judicial ethics in the exercise of his functions.

The first public hearing of the disciplinary appellate chamber in the history of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic took place today, while it is also the first completed disciplinary appellate proceeding of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic. The disciplinary chambers of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic have already ruled in a number of disciplinary appellate proceedings, but these were taken over from the disciplinary chambers elected by the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic. This appeal was against a decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, in which three professional judges and two associate judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic had ruled. The disciplinary appellate chamber was then composed of only five judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic.