19 May, 2015
The Council for the Judiciary, as invited person in the case initiated by the Constitutional Court “On compliance of the Paragraph One Section 11.6 of the Judicial Disciplinary Liability Law with the Article 100 of the Constitution”, discussed its position regarding this issue and recognised that restriction to publish a decision on initiation of disciplinary cases against judges and materials of disciplinary cases, which is stipulated in the Judicial Disciplinary Liability Law, is commensurate and appropriate to achieve legitimate aim.
Contested provision of the Judicial Disciplinary Liability Law states that the decision on initiation of a disciplinary case and materials of the disciplinary case, until the decision of the Judicial Disciplinary Committee passed in the case enters into force, are available only to persons, whose right to those are established in the law.
The Council for the Judiciary, having assessed legitimate aim and proportionality of restriction determined, observed procedure of initiation of a disciplinary case and number of initiators, and possibility that the disciplinary case may be initiated due to political or subjective reasons, and the possibility that the disciplinary may not only be dismissed, but the initiator may revoke the decision on initiation thereof. Thus, the Council for the Judiciary recognises necessity for confidentiality at the initial stage of proceedings. The Council for the Judiciary recognises necessity to protect authority of judges and a court, by not publishing information on initiated disciplinary case, irrespective of the fact whether those were initiated with good reason or not.
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