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MEDEL will hold its Council of Administration in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on November 9th.
The previous day, November 8th, together with Juezas y Jueces para la Democracia and Unión Progresista de Fiscales, MEDEL will organize the conference "Gender and Justice".
The Italian television RAI made a special report about Murat Arslan, with the participation of Gualtiero Michelini, former President of MEDEL, from Magistratura Democratica.
MEDEL wishes to express its serious concern over the recent developments within the Bulgarian judicial system, in face of the sharp increase in inroads into the independence of the judiciary, through attacks against individual judges and through reform proposals aimed at limiting their freedom of association.
Freedom of speech, that must be ensured everywhere even with regard to criticism directed at judicial decisions, does not give cover to the public allegations addressed by political and institutional actors against the judges of the Sofia Court of Appeal, stating that they would have acted with goals not related to justice when releasing on parole an Australian citizen, and their repeated exposure in the media and in political rallies. These actions risk instead to cause serious harm to the legitimacy of judicial institutions, by an unacceptable exploitation of the highly emotionalised public reaction to a criminal case.
Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés (MEDEL) wishes to express its serious concern over the recent Project of law on the reorganization of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Prosecutor’s Office, presented by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova.
According to the draft, one of the aims of the intended law is to reduce the number of judges of the Moldavian Supreme Court on the basis of an evaluation made by a newly created “Evaluation Commission”, composed by members appointed mainly by the executive and legislative powers.
Such a Commission intended for the evaluation of judges, especially within the superior law court, and predominantly appointed by the Government, appears to be unapt to ensure an objective evaluation and to respect the guarantees of the statute of judges.
Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés (MEDEL) has been following the recent developments in the judiciary of the Republic of Serbia with much concern.
Frequent filings of criminal and disciplinary charges, as well as numerous media attacks on judges and public prosecutors, have marked the last few months. These judges and public prosecutors have been either speaking freely on the daily issues and challenges regarding the judiciary and the prosecution, or expressing a critical and constructive view on the proposed amendments to the Constitution.
MEDEL wishes to express its serious concern over the impact on rescue at sea activities of the provisions introduced in Italian legislation by the so-called “security decree bis” (n.53 of June 14, 2019), recently approved by Parliament.
It can be easily foreseen that the possibility for the Minister of Interior to limit or forbid the entering, passage or stopping in the territorial sea for reasons of “public order or security”, with extremely harsh sanctions for any violation, will unavoidably put an end to rescue operations implemented in the Mediterranean by NGOs.
We have witnessed for a long time the “criminalization” by politicians and media of the activity of volunteers, trying to convey to the public opinion the idea that there is a connection between rescuers and traffickers. The constant portraying of immigration as a danger to public security served in these months as support to the “closed ports policy”, that is at odds with any elementary sense of humanity as well as with States’ international human rights obligations.
MEDEL – Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés, wishes to congratulate David Sassoli for his election as President of the European Parliament.
MEDEL had the honour of hosting David Sassoli as speaker in the conference “IMMIGRATION POLICY – FOR A EUROPE OF RIGHTS AND SOLIDARITY”, organised in March 2019 in Rome, Italy.
MEDEL is certain that in his new position, David Sassoli will promote the rights of immigrants and a humanitarian approach to the European Immigration Policy, in line with his intervention in Rome, and will be an advocate for protecting the Rule of Law in the European Union.
MEDEL welcomes the ECJ verdict delivered on 24 June 2019 (C-619/18) – the first in a series of “rule of law” rulings regarding Poland.
The Court stressed, that although the organisation of justice in the Member States falls within the competence of the latter, the fact remains that, when exercising that competence, the Member States are required to comply with their obligations under EU law.
It follows that the Member States must put in place remedies sufficient to ensure effective legal protection, within the meaning of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in the fields covered by EU law Thus every Member State must, under the second subparagraph of Article19(1) TEU, ensure that the bodies which, as ‘courts or tribunals’ within the meaning of EU law, come within its judicial system in those fields meet the requirements of that protection. To ensure that a body such as the Supreme Court is in a position to offer such protection, maintaining its independence is essential.
In just a week, the European judiciary has lost two of its most relevant and brilliant voices, and MEDEL saw the departure of two of its founding members: Christian Wettinck and Salvatore Senese.
In this sad moment, MEDEL pays tribute to these exceptional magistrates and pledges to keep building what they fought for during their entire lives: a Europe of Justice and Solidarity, where Human Rights are respected and where the most weak are protected by a truly independent Judiciary.
The current members of MEDEL will always follow their example and through our actions and our continuing struggle, Wettinck and Senese's life and thoughts will forever remain with us.
