Constitutional Court: Membership in Communist Party during communism not automatically indicator of judge’s bias

The Constitutional Court decided on Wednesday that membership in the Communist Party before the fall of the totalitarian regime in itself does not prevent a judge from being able to rule without bias. According to the verdict, passed in the case of a Sudetengerman plaintiff who argued that a Hradec Králové judge was unable to rule in his case in an unbiased way due to being a former Communist party member, mere membership in the Communist Party before the fall of communism is not enough to disqualify a judge from performing his duties. Among the ideologies propagated by the party was hatred towards Sudetengermans, therefore the plaintiff argued that the judge was prejudiced towards him. According to the Constitutional Court, the fact that the Hradec Králové judge was a party member does not automatically imply that she despises Sudetengermans and is unable to make an unbiased decision in the plaintiff’s case.

Author: Sarah Borufka