Conference on “Judicial ethics and disciplinary proceedings against judges”

Details

Published: February 27, 2023

IRZ organised a conference on 14-15 November 2022 on the specifics of disciplinary proceedings against judges which explored issues of judicial ethics with the Special Appeals Chamber of the Republic of Albania. The IRZ invited Dr Frank Czaja, Presiding Judge at the Cologne Higher Regional Court and Dr Ingo Werner, Judge at the Cologne Higher Regional Court provided insights into German practice.

The first day of the event was attended by six judges and ten scientific employees of the Special Appeals Chamber to discuss questions of substantive disciplinary law. The conference started with a welcome from Ms. Anja Finke, Deputy Head of the IRZ section Southeast Europe II and South Caucasus and Ms. Albana Shtylla, President of the Special Appointments Chamber of the Republic of Albania. She gave a detailed explanation of the role, tasks and current challenges of the Special Appeals Chamber. The subsequent presentations by the two German experts focused in particular on the course of official disciplinary proceedings and the proceedings before the judicial service courts.

The second day of the event focused on the formal aspects of disciplinary proceedings against judges and was aimed at around 20 employees of the administrative apparatus of the Special Appeals Chamber The participants discussed questions around the anonymisation and publication of decisions in the context of disciplinary proceedings along with formal points regarding responsibilities, procedures and deadlines.

The event was supported by the Federal Foreign Office as part of a project funding on “court organisation”, and was held in a climate of trust and honest discussion and a particularly active and fascinating exchange between the German team of speakers and the representatives of the Special Appeals Chamber.