Pavlo’s candidate for constitutional judge rejects criticism: Simon spoke about his decisions and business

2023-09-29 08:14:00

Criticism for the annulled decisions was recently heard, for example, by the chairman of the Senate Constitutional and Legal Committee, Tomáš Goláná (ODS), who perceives Simon as a problematic candidate. If someone makes a decision in such a way that the ÚS has to cancel it, then they have nothing to do at the ÚS, Goláň recently told Práv.

However, Simon emphasized that for all constitutional judges who came from the general judiciary, the ÚS had previously annulled some of their decisions. “So if the argument is to be that no one can be a candidate for a judge of the Supreme Court who has had a decision annulled by the Supreme Court, then we eliminated all professional judges who are on the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court. Because every Ú has canceled something at some point,” Simon stated. Specifically, for example, Ludvík David, later a respected constitutional judge, was annulled by the ÚS of 2.3 percent of the decisions being prepared at the Supreme Court, Simon said.

According to Simon, the statistics for the last five years also disprove his reputation as a judge who “does not like to compensate”, that is, who in disputes over liability for damage in the exercise of public authority favors the state rather than the plaintiffs. “In those cases where I was the reporter judge and which we solved on the merits, the plaintiff won in two thirds and the state won in one third. If I were a judge who did not want to compensate and who sided with the state, the ratio would be exactly the opposite,” said Simon, whom some senators reproach in advance, for example, some decisions of the Supreme Court related to the H-System case.

According to Simon, as a judge, he always tries to find a balance. “For me, justice is about making sure that the laws apply to everyone exactly the same, and that we’re just not going to make an exception for anyone unless there’s some extremely important reason to do so.” Simon stated. He also took part in the decision by which the Supreme Court rejected Petr Hanzlík’s appeal. Chartist Hanzlík requested compensation in connection with forced emigration following pressure from the communist State Security. Courts of all levels, including the Supreme Court, declared the claim time-barred. However, the ÚS intervened, according to which the limitation objection cannot be accepted due to the circumstances.

“The rules were set up in such a way that if you make a claim not through the rehabilitation regulations, which he was primarily supposed to take, and you take the path of damages and file a lawsuit late, then your claim is simply time-barred, without further ado. We treated everyone like this, everyone accepted that they came late, so nothing can be done,” Simon stated. It respects that the ÚS, with a majority of two votes in the three-member senate, took a different, more accommodating position. However, he emphasized the principle of equality before the law.

Part of the criticism of Simon in the public space concerns his teaching of the traditional Chinese practice of Qigong, specifically the style called Eagle in the Nest. According to him, it is a direction intended for people from the Western world who suffer from stress and lack of time. According to Simon’s own long-term experience, exercise has a good effect on people’s health and mental well-being, similar to yoga. Simon does not perceive qigong as something esoteric, he also pointed to foreign professional studies that examined the influence of the exercises.

“For me, Qigong is a way of life. He taught me several things that are important to me. He taught me to relax. It suits me wonderfully at this time of year. He taught me kindness and taught me respect for myself and others. And these are the qualities that seem important to me, that I want to bring to this world, because there are not enough of them here.” Simon said. His wife runs a qigong school, he occasionally teaches, but according to him, it is not a mass business or an income-generating activity, rather a hobby.

Simon also rejects the claim that he runs a business, even though the law does not allow judges, with exceptions, to engage in other gainful activities. Although he is a partner in the Pilsen company, he inherited the share from his father. The company would have already been liquidated if it did not own the sewer connection, which the city of Pilsen refuses to take over and which is practically impossible to get rid of, said Simon. He has no income from the company. In the past, he also figured in two companies associated with the teaching of qigong, and he said he had no income from either of them as a partner, perhaps only minimally as a lecturer. Judges may engage in pedagogical activities.

Josef Baxa, Daniela Zemanová, Jan Wintr, Veronika Křestťanová and Kateřina Ronovská have so far succeeded as the candidates of President Petr Pavel for the ÚS. Pavel also proposed Robert Fremr, who received the Senate’s approval, but then renounced his candidacy after criticizing the decision-making process before 1989. The Senate should decide on the proposal to appoint Simon at a meeting that will begin on October 18. If successful, it will occupy the seat that is currently vacant. There are now 14 members of the Constitutional Court instead of the expected 15. Pavel stood up for Simon this week, according to him, he is a good candidate in terms of expertise.