In discussion on interaction of Councils for the Judiciary and institutions of judicial self-government, which shall be held in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, 3 September, Latvian judges and representatives of Councils for the Judiciary from Poland, Lithuania and Georgia shall participate.

Discussion has been organised within programme of international exchange of experience among Councils for the Judiciary implemented by Latvian Council for the Judiciary and the Supreme Court in respect of assessment of the first quadrennial term of operation of the Council for the Judiciary of Latvia.   

In this discussion, Latvia shall be represented by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ivars Bickovics, the Chair of the Council for the Judiciary; the judge Inara Garda, representative of  the Supreme Court within the Council for the Judiciary, and institutions of judicial self-government – Peteris Dzalbe, the Chair of the Judicial Disciplinary Committee, Gunars Aigars, the Chair of the Judicial Qualification Committee and Marika Senkane, representative of the Judicial Ethics Commission.

Representatives of Councils for the Judiciary of Poland, Lithuania and Georgia will also share their experience at Latvian Judges’ Conference, which shall be held on Friday, 5 September in Riga Congress Hall. Reports at the conference shall be read by Gintaras Kryzevicius, the Chair of the Judicial Council of Lithuania, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Lithuania;  Katarzyna Gonera, the member of the National Council of Judiciary of Poland, the  Head of the International Contacts Committee and Judicial Ethics Committee, the judge of the Supreme Court of Poland and Levan Murusidze, the Secretary of the High Council of Justice of Georgia, the judge of the Supreme Court.   

In Poland, the National Council of Judiciary has operated since 1990, in Lithuania, the Judicial Council was included in the Law on Courts in 1994, but in Georgia, the High Council of Justice was established in 1997. However, in Latvia, the Council for the Judiciary is a new institution founded only in 2010.

The law “On Judicial Power” stipulates that the Council for the Judiciary is a collegial institution, which is involved in the elaboration of the policy and strategy for the judicial system, as well as improving the organisation of the workof the court system. The Council for the Judiciary included 15 members – eight officials and seven judges elected by the Judges’ Conference and the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court for four years. As term of office of first elected members of the Council for the Judiciary has expired, at the conference to be held on 5 September first stage of operation of the Council for the Judiciary shall be assessed and new representatives to the Council for the Judiciary shall be elected.   

 

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