In a recent decision, the High Court of Cassation and Justice (HCCJ) held that a judge who fails to comply with his obligation to set deadlines and to summon the parties and who successively delays the delivery of a judgment, thereby causing an excessive length of proceedings, must be sanctioned. The Court therefore held that the sanction to be imposed in this case was a 15% reduction in the judge’s gross monthly salary for a period of six months.
In a disciplinary decision of the Section for judges of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), a judge was sanctioned with a 25% reduction of his gross monthly salary for a period of one year for very long delays in the reasoning of judgments and for granting the first hearing date with multiple delays. It was also found that the judge ordered successive postponements of the delivery of decisions, followed by multiple reinstatements and then adjournments.
The sanctioned judge appealed the disciplinary decision to the HCCJ. The Court found that the judge had failed to perform his duties properly, that his conduct could not be attributed to excusable neglect and that he had violated the legal provisions on the expeditious resolution of cases.
The Court held that the sentence imposed should be modified to reduce the gross monthly salary by a smaller percentage, namely 15%, and for a shorter period of six months.
