On #EuropeDay2024 , the Polish Senate passed a bill on the National Council of Judiciary with 32 amendments. The Senate would like all judges - neo-judges included - to be able to stand in competitions for the new NCJ. This is in line with the Venice Commission opinion.

🇲🇪⚖️Montenegro: ICJ concludes a mission on the independence, organization and functioning of the judiciary | International Commission of Jurists icj.org/montenegro-icj…

The Venice Commission has published its opinion on the draft Act on the National Council for Judiciary in Poland.
Unsurprisingly, the VC finds that the proposed model of selecting judges-members of the NCJ by other judges (not politicians) conforms to European law standards.

🚨🚨 New important ruling by EU Court of Justice on effective judicial protection and #ruleoflaw : EU law does not require that professional associations of judges are granted the right to challenge decisions relating to the appointment of prosecutors. /1

Article 7 Treaty of the EU procedure was launched, for the first time in the EU's history, against Poland in December 2017 over judicial independence issues.

More precisely, the judge was *promoted* under the previous minister. He was also connected to a ministry-backed smear campaign against independent judges, those who objected to distortion of the courts. Explanation in English:
apnews.com/article/poland…

Poland has its first high level defector: One of the dubious judges, appointed by the former far-right Minister of Justice has appeared in Belarus and started giving interviews on Russian TV

🇺🇦⚖️Judges with machine guns: Yevhen Miezientsev: several times a month he spends 24 hours on lookout duty. The rest of the time he is a judge in the Kyiv appeals court: “We want to be free and independent. We don’t want to be our neighbour’s slaves.” theguardian.com/world/article/…

The independence and impartiality of the Int'l Criminal Court must be respected by all. As the Court emphasizes, any attempt to 'impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials' is unacceptable. Any such efforts would also contravene human rights norms and must stop.

Letter from MEDEL, EAJ-AEM, AEAJ and Judges for Judges to the Turkish Minister of Justice in support of Murat Arslan, urging an intervention to have Murat’s request of conditional release reconsidered in a fair and impartial manner

Letter from MEDEL, EAJ-AEM, AEAJ and Judges for Judges to Ursula von der Leyen, Věra Jourová, Didier Reynders Josep Borrell Fontelles, Oliver Varhelyi, Marija Pejčinović Burić and Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty in support of Murat Arslan, demanding action for his release and to restore #RuleOfLaw in 🇹🇷

Always grateful to IUSTITIA Stowarzyszenie Sędziów Polskich and humbled by the historical struggle for Rule of Law and Judicial Independence by 🇵🇱 Judges. Dziękuję, Dziękuję, Dziękuję.

When autocrats undermine justice systems, democratizing the courts can help build back trust. openglobalrights.org/democratizing-…

The vote by #Kiribati ’s Parliament to remove High Court judge David Lambourne is a major setback for justice and rule of law. ohchr.org/en/press-relea…

Turkey Violated UN Judge’s Rights with Terrorism Arrest: Strasbourg Court by icj MEDEL Judges for Judges
balkaninsight.com/2024/04/23/tur…

Judgment Aydin Sefa Akay v. Türkiye - arrest and pre-trial detention of UN judge in spite of diplomatic immunity
hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion…
#ECHR #CEDH #ECHR press

I continue to closely follow the case of Justice D. Lambourne in #Kiribati .

Under int'l standards, judges can only be dismissed for serious reasons of misconduct or incompetence, and in accordance with fair, impartial & objective procedures provided for by constitution or law.

The Polish government restores judicial self-government in the Council for the Judiciary by reintroducing the rule that judges in the council will be elected by their peers. Congratulations: good step forward.