SC Chief Justice: Bordāns spreads fake news and acts as a lawyer for individual judges

On Friday, the persistent attempts of the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns to get the members of the Judicial Council in favor of him and to obtain a vote on the resolution condemning the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Latvia and Chair of the Judicial Council Aigars Strupišs completely failed.

The draft resolution submitted by J. Bordāns, which had previously been published on the website of the Ministry of Justice together with the sharp comments directed by J. Bordāns against A. Strupišs, was not even considered at the meeting of the Judicial Council. Instead, A. Strupišs proposed to consider and vote on another resolution calling on the Minister to regain common sense and resume a constructive dialogue with the judiciary.

Bordāns gets a double hit

If there were no special disagreements about the non-consideration of the resolution prepared by J. Bordāns (apart from the grumbling of J. Bordāns himself), then thoughts about the resolution of A. Strupišs were initially divided. Judge of the Rēzekne court Andris Zutis, rescuing the minister, even offered to significantly change the text and meaning of this resolution. But when, during intense discussions, J. Bordāns accused A. Strupišs of corruption, the members of the Judicial Council reached a sudden consensus on the need to bring the hot-headed slanderer to his senses.

From the heated debate on both resolutions, it could be understood that J. Bordāns wants to take power over the newly created judicial training institution, and the Minister also expressed his determination to prevent criticism of his protégé Irīna Jansone, who chairs the panel of judges hearing the so-called Lembergs' case.

Among other things, beforehand J. Bordāns had managed to obtain the required number of votes in the Judicial Council for the appointment of I. Jansone as the Deputy Chairperson of the Riga Regional Court and Chairperson of the Chamber of the Criminal Court. It happened on February 16. Less than a week later, I. Jansone handed down a conviction to Aivars Lembergs, applying a security measure that is not applied at the first-instance judgment in such categories of criminal cases. The Court did not even elaborate on the reasons and necessity of detention, despite the fact that one of the fundamental principles of the European Convention on Human Rights is that the state must convincingly motivate any period of detention, no matter how short.

Competence and incompetence

On March 10 of this year, J. Bordāns issued a statement that "the statements of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court about the Lembergs case and his colleagues are damaging the reputation of the judiciary and endangering investments in Latvia." In the statement, the Minister promised that upon his proposal, the Judicial Council would discuss the criticism expressed by A. Strupišs against the judge of A. Lembergs' conviction.

The discussion of J. Bordāns' promised criticism of A. Strupišs began with A. Strupišs' statement that the Judicial Council was not entitled to discuss the resolution prepared by J. Bordāns: “In view of the Minister's allegations that I have violated the judicial ethics, I have sent the draft resolution together with my request to evaluate the violations of my judicial ethics identified in this resolution to the Judicial Ethics Commission. The Minister apparently believes that the Judicial Council can decide on violations of judicial ethics. I cannot agree with that. The Judicial Ethics Commission, not the Judicial Council, is responsible for judicial ethics. Consequently, consideration of this issue in the Judicial Council shall be postponed until the answer is received from the Judicial Ethics Commission.”

The judges have to correct the Minister's mistakes

A.Strupišs informed the Judicial Council about what was stated in the submission to the Judicial Ethics Commission: “First, my answers in the interview, on which the Minister's accusations are based, are based on facts. It was to point out specific problems and send a clear signal to the public that the judiciary is doing everything and will do everything to remedy these problems. Secondly, as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Latvia and Chair of the Judicial Council, I have a duty not only to identify the problems of the judiciary but also to solve them and inform the public about them. It would be a violation if I hid these well-known problems in the system. The statements made in this /Bordāns'/ draft resolution have been taken out of context and adapted to the Minister's political needs. I have never threatened any judge and I have not expressed contempt for anyone. Anyone can check this by listening to the whole interview and not taking select phrases out of context. In the judiciary, everyone knows of the problems created for the establishment of the Economic Affairs Court caused by the haste of the Minister, the lack of plans and the mistakes made. They are currently being addressed as a matter of urgency, depriving the judiciary of significant resources to train new colleagues so that the court can start work on time, as well as to resolve problems with the choice of the chairperson of this court. I thank my colleagues in the judiciary, who are selflessly involved in this process, devoting their time and energy, unfortunately postponing their direct duties. Personally, I am also actively involved in this training and solving other problems.”

Fake news!

A.Strupišs continued: “On March 10, the Minister published new fake news in the media. He said that I have praised the judge in the so-called Magonis' case and went against the judge of the Lembergs' case. Neither statement is true. All this is taken out of context and adorned with a Minister's interpretation. Everyone can find out about this by getting acquainted with the interview I gave for the LTV program Rīta Panorāma. In this interview, I was only talking about facts, not praising or condemning anything. Just the facts. At the same time, the Minister's statement said that I was allegedly hindering the establishment of a judicial training institution.

Colleagues - this is fake news!

Only those who have a fairly remote connection with the judiciary might miss that it was fake news, but the Minister cannot be unaware of it. Establishing an adequate and effective judicial training system is the number one priority of the Judicial Council, as well as my personal priority as the Chair of the Judicial Council. That is what I have always said and will continue saying. It is well known in the judiciary that this idea of ​​reforming the judicial training system by establishing a judges' academy or a school of judges was put forward by me and the President of Latvia at the solemn meeting celebrating the first decade of the Judicial Council. Before that, we had discussed this issue with the President. The Supreme Court and the Secretariat of the Judicial Council are currently working on the creation of this judicial training system. This has been decided by the Judicial Council, and today we also approved a strategy which states that the training of judges should be taken over from the Ministry of Justice and that is a priority strategy in the context of the development of the judiciary. So the allegations that I am delaying something are false. Obstacles to this development of judicial training system under the auspices of the judiciary are posed by the Minister, who wants to maintain the old inefficient judicial training system, which is currently overseen by the ministry under his responsibility. This training system does not meet the needs of the judiciary. The Minister is currently unable to ensure compliance."

Declaration of war

A.Strupišs regretted that instead of the much-needed dialogue between the court and the executive branch, J. Bordāns has decided to declare war: “It seems that the Minister has apparently chosen to stop negotiations and cooperation and move to a confrontation with me personally. The day before the Minister made this statement, we in the Judicial Council met with representatives of the Ministry to discuss these issues, including the training of judges. It seemed to me that we had reached an agreement on some aspects. The next day, the Minister made this statement. That was a big surprise for me.

Therefore, I conclude that apparently the minister's words are very different from the deeds. To express something like this the next day, that was not even mentioned the day before... We agreed on all the most important aspects of cooperation. We agreed that we had common goals.

Personally, it seems to me that an attempt is currently being made to use demagogic methods, distorting information, taking it out of context and using fake news to drive a wedge between me and specific judges (perhaps I. Jansone), for whom the Minister has undertaken the role of a lawyer at the moment. Such methods may work in low-quality politics, but in the judiciary, sorry, such methods are not acceptable. The judiciary must continue to move towards strengthening independence, towards decoupling from the executive, which, as we can see, wants to retain control and influence over the courts at all costs in the person of the Minister of Justice. In essence, the Minister's actions show very well that the course taken by the Judicial Council on the independence of the judiciary from the executive is the right one. Although today the Minister is showing strong favor to the judges /of the Economic Affairs Court/, it is clear to everyone that these words are different from the deeds. Supporting the strategy does not mean anything in itself. The problems will start when concrete measures have to be agreed upon. Nevertheless, in the interests of the judiciary, I see no alternative but to continue the dialogue with the Minister. I therefore call on the Judicial Council to adopt a resolution calling on the Minister to continue the dialogue with the Judicial Council within the framework of professional discussions. Today, the Minister of Justice said that the Judicial Council would be the place where the judiciary should talk to the executive. I fully agree, and this conversation should not take place anywhere outside. But the minister himself is completely contrary to his words. He goes to the press, gives fake news. He's acting very differently than how we've talked to each other before."

Not the first conflict

At its meeting on 12 March, the Judicial Council adopted a resolution stating that "it is not true what was said in the public sphere by the Minister of Justice that the Chair of the Judicial Council is hindering the establishment of a judicial training institution."

The Judicial Council calls on the Minister of Justice to continue the dialogue with the Judicial Council, in accordance with the principles of professional debate, and to refrain from using the judiciary in his political interests.

It should be recalled that this is not J. Bordāns' first conflict with the Judicial Council. During his first ministerial position, he had a conflict with the Judicial Council over the candidates for the position of the Chair of the Riga Regional Court.

Considering that at that time the court chairs were appointed by the Minister, but the Judicial Council only recommended candidates for these positions, J. Bordāns won this fight after the conflict, and currently the Riga Regional Court is headed by his passionately defended candidate Daiga Vilsone.

At the beginning of his second ministerial position, J. Bordāns also clashed with the plenary session of the Supreme Court, criticizing the unanimous decision of this supreme court institution that the then Prosecutor General Ēriks Kalnmeiers had not committed the violations pointed out by J. Bordāns.

J.Bordāns also made various organizational maneuvers during the process of approving the new Chief Justice and Prosecutor General of the Supreme Court, but he has obviously lost, and now all that remains - as the Judicial Council concluded - is to try to “continue the dialogue” and still “refrain from using the judiciary in his political interests."

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