Judicial ethics connected to the Internet

The Congress of judges on Wednesday decided on the ethical standards of behavior in social networks. They have been discussed for more than a year, but in the end it was decided to confine ourselves to the wording of the most general nature: a line will appear in the Code of Judicial Ethics stating that the behavior of a judge in the media space, including social networks, must comply with the requirements of judicial ethics. The judges themselves admit that after such a clarification, the Internet does not cease to be a “risk zone” for them, but more detailed explanations will have to wait.

The 10th All-Russian Congress of Judges, which is taking place in Moscow on November 30, discussed an amendment to the Code of Judicial Ethics, which obliges members of the profession to comply with the requirements of professional ethics when using information and communication technologies. At first, the possibility of a more detailed regulation of this issue was discussed, but then it was decided to refuse this, said Elena Zolotareva, chairwoman of the commission of the Council of Judges on Ethics.

“Excessive detail in the code of rules of conduct for a judge when using social networks, by all accounts, is not consistent with the codification nature of this normative act,” Ms. Zolotareva explained.

In addition, technology is developing rapidly, and the rules for their use may require regular editing. Therefore, it is more expedient if detailed standards are prepared in the form of recommendations that do not need to be approved at the congress (it is convened every four years, and the current one, due to the pandemic, took place after a six-year break), Elena Zolotareva noted. She did not specify when the judicial community plans to prepare such recommendations.

In the meantime, the Internet space remains a risk zone, Irina Reshetnikova, the chairman of the Arbitration Court of the Ural District, admitted: “This is primarily due to the fact that we do not really understand what is happening with the information that gets into social networks. How it is replicated, how it spreads, how long it lasts. We are rarely interested in the privacy policy and security policy of certain social networks. And even the most insignificant actions – like “like” or join as friends – may not be so innocent and have completely different consequences than we thought. Therefore, it is important to know the limits of acceptable behavior in social networks, the judge emphasized. She recalled that this is not only a problem for Russian judges: it is no coincidence that back in 2018, the UN adopted a declaration on the integrity and integrity of the judiciary.

Some of its provisions are suitable for any country – for example, the prohibition to post personal information or communicate with the parties whose dispute is considered by the judge.

But the question of whether he can use a pseudonym turned out to be discussed even at the level of the world community, Ms. Reshetnikova said.

Another norm of judicial ethics has been revised: in the future, judges will not be required to study the practice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Now, Elena Zolotareva recalled, the code obliges judges to be aware of changes in legislation, international law, to systematically study the law enforcement practice of the Constitutional, Supreme and Supreme Arbitration (SAC) courts, as well as the ECHR. But the current geopolitical situation has led to Russia’s withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the ECtHR, so its decisions are no longer obligatory to study, the judge stated: “It seems sufficient that there is an indication of the duty of a judge to know the norms of international law.” Also excluded from the list of mandatory literature are the decisions of the Supreme Arbitration Court, which ceased to exist in 2014 after merging with the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin, speaking at the congress the day before, spoke of the need to use the experience of interaction with the ECtHR.

“Russia’s participation in the convention had a certain positive impact on the development of the domestic system of human rights protection,” he admitted. “This experience should not be forgotten, it should be analyzed and rationally used.”

In general, despite the six-year break, the revision of the normative documents of the judicial community carried out by the congress turned out to be minimal. The congress clarified the norms of representation in the Council of Judges, taking into account the newly formed cassation and appellate courts, and also amended its own regulations: now the first meeting of the High Qualifications Board of Judges, which is re-elected at the congress, will be opened not by the chairman of the Council of Judges, but by its oldest or most experienced representative.

Anastasia Kornya