The proposal has sharply divided 12 justices, a majority, from the chief justice. Photo by Joe Gratz.
TALLINN — Twelve of Estonia’s 19 Supreme Court justices sent a letter to the Estonian government and parliament Monday saying that if a proposal by the chief justice passed, it would politicize the court.
The letter says the draft of the Courts Act does not match their understanding of the court system and if it would be approved by the parliament, it would politicize the position of chairman of the Supreme Court and mar the court’s decision-making process by imposing a military model where each part is subordinate to a higher position.
“If the chairman of the Supreme Court’s position is on top of the power pyramid and other court system representatives are are under his supervision, being obligated in a kind of cooperation, then we see a serious threat that the political influences might spread over the whole court system,” the justices wrote.
The letter was signed by justices Jüri Ilvest, Peeter Jerofejev, Henn Jõks, Ott Järvesaar, Eerik Kergandberg, Hannes Kiris, Ants Kull, Villu Kõve, Lea Laarmaa, Jaak Luik, Priit Pikamäe and Tambet Tampuu and represents a schism in the court between a majority of justices and Chief Justice Märt Rask, who authored the proposal.
The justice ministry is somewhat taciturn commenting the issue, saying only that the draft was not been prepared by the ministry nor the national government but was turned in by Rask.
“The draft was prepared by a work group under Märt Rask’s leadership and has been discussed by the judiciary,” Diana Kõmmus, press spokeswoman of the Ministry of Justice, told Baltic Reports.
Parliamentarian Väino Linde, head of the Riigikogu’s constitution committee that is handling the proposal, said that not only Supreme Court justices but also representatives of the judges union are welcome to be part of the discussion. Among other measures, the proposal would cut the total amount of judges from 244 to 200.
“I gave an answer to the judges of the supreme court saying that the committee will work with the draft thoroughly and includes all judges from the supreme court, as well as the representatives of the union of the judges into the discussion,” Linde told Baltic Reports.
The first reading of the draft, submitted Dec. 16, has not taken place yet.
Head of supreme court is confused
Rask said that he does not understand the purpose of the letter and why the timing of the letter was planned on the 90th anniversary events of Estonian Supreme Court.
“By whom this statement was written and why the judges of Supreme Court went along with it is unknown to me,” Rask told Baltic Reports, “If they were really unhappy with the content of the draft act then why didn’t they react earlier, they had a chance to do so through two discussion stages.”
Rask said the text is written in a political, not judicial style and that the 12 judges who signed the paper are interfering with politics. Rask said the judges may be being used by politicians — but by whom, he did not know.
“It feels to me that the judges are used by certain politicians,” Rask said.
However, the judges argue in their letter that in May 21 last year the Court en banc did not agree to send the draft to the parliament. The act was voted down with 96 votes, only 48 approved it and 15 stayed neutral.
None of the 12 judges who signed the letter agreed to comment on the matter.
