Fremr approved as Constitutional Court judge

The former Vice-President of the International Criminal Court, Robert Fremr, has been approved by the Senate as one of the Czech Constitutional Court's three new judges, receiving 36 out of 67 votes. There had been some controversy surrounding his nomination due to recent allegations that he had issued a guilty verdict in a rigged trial in 1988 involving the Communist secret police.

Mr Fremr told senators during a three-hour clarification of the case that he did not knowingly break the law. Nevertheless, some senators, including Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and chairman of the Senate Security Committee Pavel Fischer, questioned his moral integrity.

As a new judge in the Constitutional Court, Mr Fremr will join the Vice-President of the Prague Municipal Court Veronika Křestťanová and civil law professor Kateřina Ronovská. The two women were also approved by the Senate on Wednesday afternoon.