26 April, 2021
Having received a reply from the Judicial Ethics Commission that it had not established a basis for issuing an opinion on the public statements of the Chair of the Judicial Council regarding the length of criminal proceedings and the establishment process of the Economic Court, the Judicial Council did not support the draft resolution on criticism of court and judges submitted by the Minister of Justice.
Taking into account the Minister's statements in the draft resolution that the Chair of the Judicial Council had violated the judicial ethics, the Chair of the Judicial Council Aigars Strupišs had sent this draft resolution to the Judicial Ethics Commission for evaluation of his possible violations of judicial ethics.
In its reply, the Judicial Ethics Commission states that its task is to provide opinions on the interpretation and violations of ethical norms, as well as to clarify the ethical norms of judges. After getting acquainted with the application of the Chair of the Judicial Council and the attached documents, including the interview to news broadcast “Rīta panorāma” (Morning Panorama), the Judicial Ethics Commission concluded that when answering questions from journalists, Aigars Strupišs provided information and assessment on various issues of court organization within his competence as the Chair of the Judicial Council. Therefore, the Judicial Ethics Commission acknowledged that neither the interview given to the media nor the way it was presented can be assessed in terms of the standard of professional ethics.
Information prepared by
Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court
E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211