Justice of the Constitutional Court Artūrs Kučs speaks about the Constitutional Court’s role in the development of a state governed by the rule of law at Kazakhstan’s conference
On Thursday, 27 August, Justice of the Constitutional Court Artūrs Kučs participated remotely in the international conference, held by the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan, “Constitution of the 21st Century – the Rule of Law, Human Value and Effectiveness of the State”. This year, Kazakhstan celebrates the 25th anniversary of its Constitution. Artūrs Kučs spoke about the importance of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia (hereafter – the Satversme) in Latvia and the Constitutional Court’s role in developing the rule of law and human rights.
In his address, Artūrs Kučs underscored the importance of the rule of law and the principle of good governance in a democratic society governed by the rule of law. He highlighted the Satversme as the foundation of Latvia’s constitutional system and the fundamental rights included in the Satversme.
Artūrs Kučs emphasised that the Constitutional Court provided the possibility for the inhabitants to defend their fundamental rights in a certain procedure. He underscored that the Satversme interacted also with the international agreements in the area of human rights. I.e., the Satversme protects also the minimum standards, which follow from the international commitments, assumed by the Republic of Latvia.
When speaking about the cooperation between the Constitutional Court and the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, Artūrs Kučs referred to several issues, which, promoting the rule of law in Latvia, have appeared on the agendas of both branches of the state power. The Constitutional Court has reviewed cases, inter alia, pertaining to the independence of judges (for example, case No. 2009-111-01), prohibition for judges to join political parties (case No. 2012-16-01) as well as the immunity of the members of the Saeima against criminal prosecution (case No. 2019-08-01).
Turning to the interaction between the Constitutional Court and the Latvian national legislator, Justice Kučs noted that the Constitutional Court’s rulings were generally binding and the interpretation of the respective legal norm, provided in them, was mandatory for state and local government institutions (including courts) and officials as well as legal and natural persons. It was stated in the presentation that the Constitutional Court was aware of the complexity of the issues, reviewed by the Court, and that the legislator might need time for preparing a solution that would be compatible with the Satversme. Therefore the Court, in the substantive part of its judgements, may define a certain period of time, after which the contested norm becomes void. The Constitutional Court has recognised that, in compliance with the principle of good legislation, the Saeima always must substantiate its decisions and try to find alternatives through discussions so that legal norms would restrict a person’s fundamental rights as little as possible. Artūrs Kučs drew attention to the fact that compliance with the principle of good legislation in the process of adopting legal acts in the parliament created the conviction that the particular law had been discussed in debates and that the solution found was the best possible compromise.
The Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan was congratulated on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the national Constitution by President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele, the video of her greeting is available here.
The recording of the online conference is available here.