Communicated on 4 June 2020 Published on 22 June 2020

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 42149/17 Viera PETRÍKOVÁ against Slovakia lodged on 6 June 2017

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the alleged impartiality of one of the Constitutional Court ’ s judges having ruled on the applicant ’ s constitutional complaint (Article 6 § 1 of the Convention).

The applicant, a former Minister of Justice and currently a judge of the Supreme Court, was in 2010 sued by another judge, J.B., for protection of the latter ’ s personality rights. On 1 June 2015 and 22 September 2015 respectively, J.B. as well as the applicant lodged constitutional complaints against two different decisions issued within those proceedings. The applicant asked that a judge of the Constitutional Court, Ľ .G., be excluded from both cases for bias. By the Constitutional Court ’ s decisions of 19 January 2016, Ľ .G. was excluded from sitting in J.B. ’ s case on account of her own statement concerning her relationship of friendship with J.B. (decision no. III. ÚS 35/2016), but was not excluded from sitting in the applicant ’ s case (decision no. III. ÚS 36/2016). In the latter decision dismissing the applicant ’ s objection as unsubstantiated, the Constitutional Court held that the connection between the proceedings on the two constitutional complaints, implicitly stemming from the parties ’ position in the proceedings before the general courts, was not a relevant basis for its taking a decision on the objection of bias. The applicant ’ s constitutional complaint was then dismissed as manifestly ill-founded by a chamber of three judges comprising Ľ .G. (no. II. ÚS 898/2016).

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Did the applicant have a fair hearing by an impartial tribunal, as required by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (see, mutatis mutandis , Harabin v. Slovakia , no. 58688/11, § 137, 20 November 2012) ?