12 March, 2021
The Judicial Council will consider the draft resolution submitted by the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns on the issues of criticism of courts and judges after receiving the opinion of the Judicial Ethics Commission. At the sitting of March 12, the Chair of the Judicial Council Aigars Strupišs informed that, taking into account the Minister's statements laid down in the draft resolution that the Chair of the Judicial Council had violated the judicial ethics, he has sent the draft resolution to the Judicial Ethics Commission for evaluation.
In his submission to the Judicial Ethics Commission, Aigars Strupišs pointed out that in the television broadcast of February 26 "Rīta Panorāma", to which the Minister of Justice refers, when answering to interviewers he pointed out specific problems to the public and gave a clear signal that the judiciary does and will do everything possible to remedy these problems. Being both the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Chair of the Judicial Council, he has a duty not only to identify problems in the judiciary and solve them, but also to inform the public about them. It would be a breach of ethics to hide and not solve problems in the judiciary which everybody is well aware of.
What regards the Minister's accusations in respect to the opinion of the Chair of the Judicial Council on the establishment of the Economic Court, Aigars Strupišs reminded that the problems caused by Minister's haste, lack of planning and errors in the establishment of the Economic Court currently are being addressed as a matter of urgency, depriving the judiciary of its significant resources in order to train new colleagues so that the court can commence its operation within the set time. The Chair of the Judicial Council thanked his colleagues for their involvement in this process
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