The Constitutional Court (CC) is examining the constitutionality of the transfer of judges from the Supreme Court of Justice to other courts of law without the judges’ consent. The challenge was filed by the Communist parliamentary group. One of the authors Artur Reshetnikov has told IPN that by the legislative amendments made by Parliament last July, the principle of independence of judges was violated
“The judges hold office for life and the court where they work or their post cannot be changed without their consent. But this law allows interfering in the career of judges. It says that the judges will be offered to be transferred and will be dismissed if they refuse. Many judges were already discharged from posts according to political criteria,” said the lawmaker.
Under the amendments, the transfer of judges from a higher court to inferior courts will be made according to criteria approved by the Supreme Council of Magistrates, by keeping the salary until retirement and by maintaining the social guarantees set earlier. The authors of the challenge said the phrased ‘according to criteria approved by the Supreme Council of Magistrates’ runs counter to the Constitution. They consider that the selection criteria must be regulated exclusively by law.
The authors also said that the changes affect the independence and irremovability of judges in general and of the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice in particular.
