The Slovak Constitutional Court has rushed to suspend several paragraphs in the government's controversial legislative reform that make sweeping changes to the country’s judiciary and criminal code.

The legislative package has  sparked country-wide protests backed by the opposition, which had also obstructed the package in the parliament. It was also criticised by the EU, including in a resolution passed by the European Parliament. The next tranche of Slovak's Reconstruction Funds has been suspended while the EU examines the legislation.

The suspension precedes a full ruling on the constitutionality of the legislative changes – which the incoming left-right cabinet of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico approved in December and pushed through the National Council (parliament) earlier this month – but it will prevent them taking effect in the meantime.

Critics view the legislation as a “get-out-of-jail” pass for Smer party supporters threatened by ongoing criminal investigations.    Suspension of the paragraphs on  lowering criminal punishments and shortening the statute of limitations.should stop any prisoners being released early or cases being dropped because of the changes introduced in the legislation.

“I am happy that democracy in Slovakia works, that a system of checks and balances works here”, the country’s liberal President Zuzana Caputova, who filed the constitutional complaint against the legislation, stated for daily DennikN.

“The court has so far decided on suspending the effect,” which was supposed to kick in on March 15. “The court is yet to rule on the constitutionality of the disputed paragraphs,” daily SME wrote.

The court did not suspend paragraphs that dismantled the Special Prosecutor Office overseeing high-profile corruption cases. The Office will cease to exist on March 20, and the Prosecutor General will now oversee its cases.

After the parliament passed the legislation, it took the cabinet six days to deliver it to the president in an apparent move to narrow the president's room to act. 

Instead of vetoing the legislation,  Caputova, a former lawyer and a fervent critic of the legislation, signed it and filed a complaint to give the Constitutional Court enough time to rule.

The Ministry of Justice now has 15 days to publish the court’s decision in the law codex, just enough days before the legislation takes effect on March 15. Caputova filed the complaint on February 19, and the court needed nine days to issue a decision, which SME described as “an express decision”.