Czech Union of Judges preparing new ethical codex

The Czech Union of Judges is preparing to upgrade its ethical codex in connection with suspicions that President Miloš Zeman had tried to influence the outcome of court rulings in cases that involved the Office of the President or that he felt strongly about.

It has emerged that the president’ s chancellor met with judges on a number of occasions to inform them about the president’s stance on a given court case.

The president of the Constitutional Court, Pavel Rychetský, stressed in connection with the scandal that he trusted the independence of Czech courts and the said meetings did not automatically mean that judges were influenced by them.

On the other hand, Rychetský said the matter was serious in that such incidents inevitably undermined public trust in the judiciary.