1 September, 2015
The Council for the Judiciary hasn’t decided, whether immunity of judges and prosecutors in cases on administrative violations should be abolished and they should be held liable under general procedure, because opinions on this issue were conceptually different in working groups and judges’ surveys; moreover, the Council for the Judiciary has not discussed this issue previously as well. The Council for the Judiciary considers it useful to discuss this issue at Latvian Judges’ Conference to be held in November.
Recommendation to abolish system of administrative immunity for judges and prosecutors was given to Latvia by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption(GRECO). At the plenary session held in March, the GRECO recognised that its recommendations are not fulfilled in Latvia.
In discussions organised by the Ministry of Justice regarding issues related to abolishment of immunity stipulated by legal provisions, representatives of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, Latvian Association of Administrative Judges and the Latvian Association of Judges participated. Proposals were different, for example, to narrow immunity issue and to refer it only to administrative violations related to prevention of corruption, or to ground abolishment of immunity to individual assessment of respective case. The Council for the Judiciary urges, before deciding on abolishment of immunity of judges and prosecutors, first to review legal provisions in procedure related to administrative violations.
Information prepared by
Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court
E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: 67020396, 28652211