Letter to the President of the EU Court of Justice: “Do not let the truth about the Prek case reported for violence be hindered”
Ana Pinto, president of the international association 'The voice of survivors', writes this in a letter
ROME – “Mr President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in our capacity as the Luxembourg association of survivors of sexual, sexist, physical and psychological violence, we would like to share with you the our misunderstanding regarding the presence of a former judge of the Court, Mr. Miro Prek, at the official celebrations of 2 and 3 May 2024 on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the enlargement of the European Union to ten new States members, including Slovenia. We believe that Mr Prek’s presence at the conference, livestreamed on the Court’s website, where he was filmed talking to or sitting next to several high-ranking people connected to a case involving him. , is not neutral and constitutes institutional violence against Mrs. S., who is still waiting for justice to be done to her.” Ana Pinto, president of the international association ‘The voice of survivors’, writes this in a letter which is now gathering the membership of other Italian and European associations that fight the phenomenon ofviolence against women.
Judge Prek- as Dire wrote in a first article on the matter in October 2022– he is at the center of a legal matter that is still open today, both in Luxembourg and in Italy, which was also reported on Slovenian state TV, following the complaint of an Italian official directly employed by him at the time of the events, who reported abuse and violence suffered, which also allegedly occurred in the offices of the Court itself and who reported what happened.
“Mr Prek – the association writes – ceased his functions as a judge in September 2019 following an internal investigation. Mrs S., of whom he was the hierarchical superior, had launched an alert procedure (whistleblowing) in February 2019 concerning, among other things, facts of physical, psychological and sexual violence. These facts had been made public by Slovenian television which had mentioned the name of the Mr. Prek. The case was subsequently covered by other media in several European and non-European countries.
The memorandum of the Court of Justice of 5 July 2019, which you signed and which was reported in the press, indicates that Mr Miro Prek is committed not to reapply for a position as a judge and who has been exempted from the exercise of his duties starting from September 2019. He has therefore not received any sanction from your Institution, as he complained against Mrs. S. before the Luxembourg courts for defamation, ‘a criminal procedure of which it is not appropriate to prejudge the outcome’, indicates the memorandum. You are certainly aware of the fact that this defamation case has not yet been judged and that, in parallel, Mrs S. has filed a complaint for physical, psychological and sexual violence before the Luxembourg Justice and that, four years after her deposit, is still under investigation”.
“Mrs. S., an Italian citizen – continues the letter – also filed an appeal on 15 February 2024 before the Court of the European Union against the refusal of access to the dossier containing the information collected as part of your investigation internal. Such information would allow you to defend yourself more effectively and within a reasonable time, as required by the Istanbul Convention. In the current state of the ongoing procedures,if Mr. Prek is still presumed innocent of the allegations of violence before the Luxembourg courts, Mrs. S. is still presumed to be the victim of such violence and innocent of the defamation allegations.
The facts that she denounces began in 2014. Even today, she pays dearly price. His career as a référendaire at the Court of Justice of the European Union – continues the letter of complaint – has been destroyed and the expenses he continues to incur to defend himself in all administrative and criminal procedures weigh heavily on his finances. She was also prosecuted by the European Union Anti-Fraud Office for making statements about the facts she suffered to the Slovenian press in 2019. All this adds economic and institutional violence to the physical, psychological and sexual violence she suffered. As an association for the defense of victims of sexual violence, we believe that the Court of Justice of the European Union must show itself as exemplary in the protection of fundamental human rights in general, and in particular in the application of the Istanbul Convention on prevention and fight against violence against women and domestic violence, ratified and entered into force for the European Union in October 2023. Furthermore, the new European directive on the fight against violence against women and domestic violence underlines the determination of the institutions European governments to ‘make every effort to prevent violence against women, including domestic violence, protect victims and punish perpetrators'”.
“The case of Mrs. S. – continues the letter – seems emblematic of a culture of impunity regarding the violence of which women in particular are victims. Various sources in Europe estimate that the the number of victims who dare to report represents only 10% of the total. A figure that is not at all surprising if you consider that only 10% of reports lead to a conviction. 99% of attacks go unpunished respect for the dignity of the victims and support for the liberation of speech”.
The letter concludes: “We ask you, Mr President, to act so that the manifestation of the truth is not hindered and that justice can finally follow its course, given that reasonable durations have already been largely exceeded”.