Tomáš Ščuka: Judge who may be appointed to the Constitutional Court had 60 % of her lower court decisions overturned, faith in the justice system is declining among Roma
The judge who ruled to acquit the defendant in the closely-watched case of the death of a Romani man after an altercation in Brno, Czech Republic has been nominated to the Constitutional Court and is now facing criticism. How can her work be trusted when the High Court in Olomouc overturned more than 60 % of her rulings?
The appeals court overturned 19 out of the 31 rulings reviewed which were pronounced by Judge Dita Řepková as the presiding judge at the Regional Court in Brno. Czech Senator Tomáš Goláň recommends his fellow senators not support her candidacy for the Constitutional Court, the vote for which will be held on 20 November.
Judge Řepková enjoys a significantly reduced level of credibility based on this high proportion of her rulings that have been overturned, and doubts were also raised about her decision in the case of the death of a Romani man after the altercation at the Brno Reservoir. In March 2024, Řepková acquitted a man originally from Ukraine of having committed murder in this case with the justification that he had acted in self-defense and had therefore not committed a crime. The expert public called that decision fair at the time, and the prosecutor, who had originally qualified the case as murder, decided not to appeal.
According to critics of the verdict, however, the opportunity to appeal should have been pursued in the name of democratic values and building faith in state institutions, especially given the longtime distrust felt by the Romani minority toward the justice system, which is a result of the mild sentences handed down here in cases of violence against Romani people.
Faith in the impartiality of the justice system was also weakened by the statements of some politicians during the escalation of tensions between the Romani community and the Ukrainian community in the aftermath of the Brno killing. The guarantee of a fair trial and the possibility of appeal went unfulfilled in this case, as no one other than the public prosecutor had the opportunity to file an appeal.
The case drew attention in both the domestic and international media and was closed at the first-instance level by the ruling from Judge Řepková. Today, Senator Goláň is questioning her decision-making practice in particular because of the high number of overturned rulings from her bench, but the Brno case will never be reopened.
Unfortunately, these facts do not increase Romani people’s trust in the Czech justice system.
