30 September, 2014
The Council for the Judiciary supported proposal of the Ministry of Justice on elimination of operation or reorganisation of Sigulda court and Riga city Centre district court.
It is envisaged to reorganise Sigulda court by annexing it to Riga district court. However, catchment area of Riga city Centre district court will be incorporated into catchment area of Vidzeme suburb court.
Irena Kucina, the deputy Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice explained that judges of Sigulda court will be legally transferred to work in Riga district court, but they will discharge their duties in their previous place of work in Sigulda. However, it is planned to transfer judges of Centre district court to several other courts, namely, the most part – to Vidzeme suburb court, and part – also to Riga city Latgale suburb court, as it experiences one of largest workloads, and to Riga city Ziemelu district court, where it is envisaged to create specialisation in cases on illegal border-crossing and holdup of children.
This is the first step in planned reform of court houses, which was conceptually supported by the Council for the Judiciary in the sitting of June 16 already and which was also supported in the Cabinet of Ministers. The reform provides that merging of district (city) courts located in catchment area is envisaged to be performed gradually, initially implementing the reform in Riga court area. However, as the representative of the Ministry informed, merging of next courts is not planned in near future.
Members of the Council for the Judiciary pointed out necessity for the Ministry of Justice during the course of the reform to consult with courts more and to provide to judges and employees more information that would be direct and not mediated through media.
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