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The situation of the Romanian Judiciary has recently witnessed another episode that reveals the worrying path towards the degradation of the Rule of Law in that country.
MEDEL sees with much concern the revision of the three basic laws of the Judiciary (the Statutes of Judges and Prosecutors, the organisation of Courts and of the Prosecution Service and the organisation of the Superior Council of Magistracy) – that came into force between July and October 2018 – and the proposed changes of the criminal and criminal procedure. As Vice-President Frans Timmermans said in the European Parliament on October 3rd, 2018, these changes put at serious risk the independence and effectiveness of the Judiciary, especially in the fight against corruption.
MEDEL will hold today the first of the four conferences about Democracy and the Rule of Law, announced in this website.
Today's conference will take place in Rome, and we will discuss the European Immigration Policy.
Live streaming of the conference will be available in the following LINK. The conference starts at 3pm (Central European Time).
Your Excellency, MEDEL – Magistrats Européens Pour la Démocratie et les Libertés, (a European Non-Governmental Organization that currently gathers 23 associations of Judges and Prosecutors coming from 16 different European Countries, representing more than 15.000 magistrates), has been following closely the ongoing attack against the independence of the Judiciary in Poland.
We have had the opportunity of addressing those issues and expressing our support for the decision taken by the European Commission to press charges against Poland before the European Court of Justice, in an email sent to you on October 1st, 2018.
MEDEL representatives were invited to meet with the CVM (Cooperation and Verification Mechanism) team to deepen the discussions regarding the progress reports on the Romanian and Bulgarian judiciary systems, Mr. William Sleath stated on behalf of the European Commission in a letter sent to MEDEL on 28 Jan. 2019.
The letter from the European Commission was a reply to a letter sent by MEDEL, on 14 December 2018, to Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the European Commission) and Ms. Vera Jourová (European Commissioner of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality) regarding the 2018 reports of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) on Bulgaria and Romania.
MEDEL was present today in Belgrade, in the conference "Civil Society for Accountable Governance", organized by CRTA - Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability.
Filipe Marques took the floor in the opening plenary and had an impulse statement at the Working Group 3 - Changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.
MEDEL was present today in Belgrade, in the conference "Civil Society for Accountable Governance", organized by CRTA - Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability.
Filipe Marques took the floor in the opening plenary and had an impulse statement at the Working Group 3 - Changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.
The extraordinary situation of violation of the independence of the judiciary in Turkey has induced all four European Associations of Judges to join together in their activities:
• The Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ),
• The European Association of Judges (EAJ),
• Judges for Judges and
• “Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés” (MEDEL)
And form a Platform: Platform for an Independent Judiciary in Turkey.
Since its creation, the Platform has been working together to promote the independence of the Judiciary in Turkey and the right to freedom and a fair trial to all the Judges and Prosecutors detained.
Here we gather the main documents issued by the Platform:
Platform Letter Council Europe - 1-8-2016-4SG1.89 MB
Platform Letter Council Europe - 1-8-2016-4PACE1.9 MB
Situation of Turkish Judiciary - Platform Report417.14 KB
Turkey Platform Conclusions163.96 KB
Statement on the eve of the EU-Turkey leaders’ meeting in Varna114.84 KB
70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its observation in Turkey160.88 KB
Criminal conviction of Mr Murat Arslan117.89 KB
Links to the other member association webpages of the Platform:
The Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ)
The European Association of Judges (EAJ), Regional Group of the International Association of Judges (IAJ)
The president of the Portuguese Judges Association published an article about Murat Arslan in one of the main newspapers in Portugal, which can be found in THIS LINK:
Here is the translation in English.
Murat Arslan was arrested on 19 October 2016. He is in a prison cell in Sincan, Ankara, with 16 other detainees: 8 beds and the floor to sleep, a carpet to pray, one shower, one washbasin and two toilets. 20 liters of water a day to wash clothes and body, half an hour a week for visits, though a thick dirty glass, half an hour a month to hug the wife Sevilay and the sons, Burak Emre and Yigit Eren, 16 and 13 years old, a phone call every two weeks, an hour a month to play football, and a weekly order of books and canteen food.
The president of the Portuguese Judges Association published an article about Murat Arslan in one of the main newspapers in Portugal, which can be found in THIS LINK:
Here is the translation in English.
Murat Arslan was arrested on 19 October 2016. He is in a prison cell in Sincan, Ankara, with 16 other detainees: 8 beds and the floor to sleep, a carpet to pray, one shower, one washbasin and two toilets. 20 liters of water a day to wash clothes and body, half an hour a week for visits, though a thick dirty glass, half an hour a month to hug the wife Sevilay and the sons, Burak Emre and Yigit Eren, 16 and 13 years old, a phone call every two weeks, an hour a month to play football, and a weekly order of books and canteen food.
The president of the Portuguese Judges Association published an article about Murat Arslan in one of the main newspapers in Portugal, which can be found in THIS LINK:
Here is the translation in English.
Murat Arslan was arrested on 19 October 2016. He is in a prison cell in Sincan, Ankara, with 16 other detainees: 8 beds and the floor to sleep, a carpet to pray, one shower, one washbasin and two toilets. 20 liters of water a day to wash clothes and body, half an hour a week for visits, though a thick dirty glass, half an hour a month to hug the wife Sevilay and the sons, Burak Emre and Yigit Eren, 16 and 13 years old, a phone call every two weeks, an hour a month to play football, and a weekly order of books and canteen food.
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