Today, the ICJ has provided comments on the Draft Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation “On judicial practice of application of legislation regulating the issue of disciplinary responsibility of judges”.
The comments focus on a number of issues in the disciplinary system that the ICJ considers to be of particular importance in this regard.
The ICJ recommended that the Draft Resolution should, in particular:
– Clarify further the definition of disciplinary misconduct;
– Prohibit disciplinary action for judicial decisions of judges; and
– Clarify further the very exceptional nature dismissals of judges.
These comments and recommendations draw on the ICJ’s report and recommendations Securing justice: the disciplinary system for judges in the Russian Federation published in 2012 following a mission to the Russian Federation.
The report made a series of recommendations for specific and practical measures designed to advance the process of reform of the judicial disciplinary system in the Russian Federation.
Among other things the report concluded that “comprehensive reforms of the [disciplinary] system [were] needed to establish a judiciary that is an effective guardian of the Rule of Law, complies with international standards on the judicial independence, and is a reliable guarantor of the right to a fair hearing”.
Russia-Recommendaitons on Draft Resolution-Advocacy-Analysis Brief-2016-ENG (full text, in PDF)
Russia-Recommendaitons on Draft Resolution-Advocacy-Analysis Brief-2016-RUS (full text, in PDF)