Pavel Křestťanova was nominated as a constitutional judge from the municipal court in Prague

Veronika Krestanova, deputy president of the municipal court in Prague, could be the new constitutional judge. President Peter Powell sent his nomination to the Senate. This was announced by the Upper House of Parliament on Twitter. Senators have two months to decide whether to approve the nomination.

“The nomination is a great honor for me and I feel it with complete humility as an assessment of my work so far,” wrote ČTK Křestťanova. He specializes in protection of personality, copyright and media law. As a judge, he decided, for example, a dispute with Krteček regarding a license to produce goods or a dispute over the authorship of former President Václav Klaus’s amnesty speech. He also handled the claims of a nurse prosecuted for the murders of patients who sued a media publisher for flouting the presumption of innocence. For example, he handled a dispute between hurdler Zuzana Hejnova and Czech Post over a stamp issued for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Křestťanova has been working at the Prague Municipal Court, which proposed her to the President since 2010. Prior to that, he practiced law since 1992, after graduating from Charles University’s Faculty of Law. He also studied law at Paso University. He also served as an arbitrator on the Economic and Agricultural Council of Arbitration. He was a member of the Expert Commission for drafting the new Copyright Act. He won the 2014 Lawyer of the Year Award for Intellectual Property. He has experience in the field of education, teaching at the Prague Law School or AMU.

Křestyanová has been a judge for the past thirteen years, combining eighteen years of legal experience and twenty-four years of academic experience. This triple unique and at the same time long-term experience from several professions will greatly benefit the work of the Constitutional Court,” Jaroslava Bokorna, President of the Municipal Court in Prague, justified his appointment to the Czech Justice Server.

A proposal to include former International Criminal Court (ICC) vice-president Robert Fremer as a constitutional judge has been awaiting Senate approval since mid-June.

There is now a vacancy on the fifteen-member bench of constitutional judges for Vladimir Sladeček, whose ten-year term ended on June 4. The mandates of the presidents of the Constitutional Court, Pavel Rysetzky and Ludwig David, will end in early August, and that of Radovan Suchanek on November 26. Powell must put forward at least two candidates for constitutional justice.

The president approached dozens of institutions, including regional, high and supreme courts, to recommend potential candidates for constitutional judges. These are then assessed by a panel led by constitutional lawyer John Kysela. The Constitutional Court is appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate for a term of ten years, and the Constitution does not prohibit re-election.

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