CSM's response to the Recorder documentary. More than 98% of the judges who responded to a questionnaire accuse “a public campaign against the judiciary” / Parliament, blamed for the problems in the judiciary
“The prescription of criminal liability cannot be imputed to the judges, but primarily to the passivity of the legislature”, accuses the CSM in a preliminary analysis published on Tuesday based on a questionnaire completed by the judges.
The Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) presented on Tuesday the results of the first centralization of answers from the questionnaire addressed to judges and said that more than 98% “answered that they felt in the last year a public campaign against justice”. Citing the answers received, the CSM also mentions, among other things, that “the prescription of criminal liability cannot be imputed to judges, but primarily to the passivity of the legislature”.
On Monday, the CSM announced that 2,583 judges responded to the questionnaire launched after the Recorder documentary “Captured Justice”, representing 56.5% of the active body.
“The questionnaire included a number of 20 questions, of which 17 allowed answers that can be centralized automatically, while for 3 questions they allowed open answers (free text). At the same time, it was not mandatory to fill in all the answers considering that some assumptions were not applicable to all judges, in relation to their specialization or the specific situations that were the subject of the questions”, explained the CSM in the statement on Tuesday.
The forum said that “the data presented are preliminary, being the result of a first centralization and an overall analysis carried out based on the full coverage of the three areas of free answers”.
“At a later stage, a detailed analysis and an extensive classification will be carried out, which will take into account all the nuances and particularities of the aspects indicated in the answers to the open questions,” the statement added.
“A public campaign against justice”
The SCM says that “judges felt the public campaign against the judiciary carried out in the last year”, and that they “support the public reactions of the SCM to the campaign carried out”.
“The data indicate that the public reactions of the CSM have benefited from a high level of support among judges, the disagreement being very low compared to the number of respondents”, claims the CSM.
A total of 192 respondents, representing 8.4%, said they had been replaced from a bench, while 2,081, or 91.6%, said they had not been replaced. Only 31 of those replaced “showed that they were replaced without their consent.”
“Only one respondent assessed that the change was made with the aim of leading to the intervention of the prescription of criminal liability, while 159 judges answered in the opposite sense. At the same time, 3 judges indicated that they challenged the administrative act in court, while 71 judges indicated that they did not formulate such an action”, notes the CSM.
“Parliament's passivity”, indicated as the main cause of prescriptions
The CSM claims that in the responses to the questionnaire, the “passivity of the Parliament” was indicated as the main cause of the prescription of criminal liability.
“The perception of the judges is that the main cause that led to these situations in which it is found that the prescription of criminal liability has intervened is the passivity of the Parliament. At the same time, the duration of the criminal investigation and the decisions handed down by the Constitutional Court are significant causes,” the CSM statement also states.
The CSM says that “the judges perceived as the last reason the reason regarding the illegitimate or unjustified changes made to the composition of the panel, an aspect that strengthens the conclusion regarding the generalization and the formation of a wrong perception among the public, a perception that has the effect of discrediting justice”.
“Problems of the Justice System”
The CSM claims that “the volume of activity is the main systemic problem that judges feel”.
“In an overwhelming proportion, the judges appreciated that the high volume of activity and the lack of regulation of the activity represent real problems that directly affect the act of justice”, wrote the CSM.
A total of 1,808 judges also filled in the field where they could indicate “up to three real problems in the judicial system that are insufficiently addressed, in order of importance.” The main five topics were the insufficient/unoccupied scheme, the volume of activity, the need to regulate the activity, the legislation affecting the judicial act, respectively the inappropriate offices.
