Senator Normunds Salenieks was elected the Chair of the Department of Civil Cases of the Senate at the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court on September 11. According to the law “On Judicial Power”, the Chairs of the Departments of the Supreme Court are elected by the General Meeting of Judges for a term of five years.

31 out of 32 judges voted for the candidacy of Normunds Salenieks.

As the priority of the work of the Chair of the Department, Normunds Salenieks points out the co-operation with other Departments, creating a common understanding in the issues of application of legal provisions, as well as developing co-operation with lower courts.

The Chair of the Department considers that the problem is the slow responding of the cassation court to changes in legislation and the delayed development of the relevant case law, as it takes some time for a case to reach the Senate. The solution to this is cooperation with lower courts, identifying cases that should be considered with highest priority, as well as more frequently applying the right provided by the law “On Judicial Power” thus giving an opinion of the general meeting of senators of Senate’s Department on topical issues of interpretation and application of legal provisions. It is also important that the Department actively participates in the working group for drafting amendments to the Civil Procedure Law in order to try to eliminate errors that affect the efficiency of the handling of cases.

Normunds Salenieks has been a judge of the Supreme Court since 2005, has been a senator in the Department of Administrative Cases, since 2010 – in the Department of Civil Cases. Prior to the Supreme Court, he was a judge in the Riga City Central District Court and the Riga Regional Court. He has served in the Disciplinary Court and the Judicial Ethics Commission.

The Chair of the Department of Civil Cases of the Senate had to be elected because the former Chair of the Department Aigars Strupiss has become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211