29 June, 2017
Issue of the periodical "Jurista Vārds" (Lawyer’s Word) of June 27 is dedicated to the communication of the judicial system and society.
Laila Jurcena, Advisor to the President of the Constitutional Court, writes about criticism as strengthening force of the authority of the judicial power and promoter of the independence of judges. Janis Neimanis, Judge of the Constitutional Court speaks about the openness of the judge to the information. Daiga Vilsone, Chair of Riga Regional Court, expresses her opinion on the boundaries of criticism regarding the court decisions and the criticism that is lacking, namely criticism from law professors. Also, sworn notary Linda Damane believes that criticism of justice in Latvia is inadequate and of poor quality. At the same time, sworn advocate Davis Volksons writes about trivialities which form the image of the advocates and the entire judicial system and which influence public opinion. Whereas, his colleague Jurijs Baibakovs analyzes the communication about justice in Russian.
Anda Rozukalne, Associate Professor at Riga Stradins University, also participates in the discussion on the communication of judicial system, analyzing whether there are unresolvable issues for courts and the media. In turn, Zane Mace, journalist at the “Latvijas Radio”, gives examples from her experience and tells us about the consequences of an information vacuum.
The periodical also provides an insight into the media survey on communication of judicial system.
The publishers of "Jurista Vārds" hope that this issue will serve as an introduction and initiative to the discussion that will take place in Cesis this week at the festival LAMPA on the challenges of communication and criticism of judicial system in today's Latvia.
The discussion "Society and Court: To speak or to dissociate?" will take place on the first day of the festival, June 30, at 18.00-19.30 in the tent SPULDZE.
The participants of the discussion will be Dace Bluma, Chair of Cesis District Court, Ilma Cepane, professor of the University of Latvia, former Chair of Legal Affairs Committee of the Saeima and Judge of the Constitutional Court, Juris Stukans, Chair of Collegium of Criminal Cases of Riga Regional Court, Nellija Locmele, Editor-in-chief of journal “Ir”, Sandis Bertaitis, advocate and partner at advocate’s bureau “FORT”, and Veronika Krumina, Chair of the Department of Administrative Cases of the Supreme Court. The conversation will be moderated by Dina Gailite, Editor-in-chief of "Jurista Vārds".
More about the festival LAMPA see here.
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