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I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the Czech Republic’s candidates for the election as a judge to the European Court of Human Rights. The list was approved by the Czech Government’s decision No.615 of 12 July 2021 […]
The candidates are as follows (in alphabetical order):
Please find enclosed the Czech Government’s decision, the nomination letter, the curricula vitae and motivation letters of the candidates, as well as the revised and updated Rules governing the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights, adopted by the Government Resolution No. 648 of 15 June 2020.
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The Czech Republic nomination of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights
Given that the mandate of the current judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) elected in respect of the Czech Republic will come to its end as of 31 October 2021, the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic (MoJ), pursuant to the Rules Governing the Selection of Candidates for the Post of Judge at the ECtHR (see enclosed), opened a call for applications for the post of a judge at the ECtHR on 21 July 2020. The deadline for the submission of applications expired on 30 September 2020. Within the deadline, 7 applications were presented. After their examination it was concluded that all the applicants should be invited to an interview with the Selection Committee.
The Selection Committee met on 13 November 2020, composed as follows:
At this meeting, the Selection Committee interviewed all the applicants. They were invited to appear in its front separately, one by one, in alphabetical order, with approximately 45 minutes allocated to each applicant. During the interviews the Selection Committee examined the personal and professional qualities as well as linguistic abilities of the applicants and, in a secret ballot, selected the following three candidates to appear on the List of Candidates (in alphabetical order):
The Selection Committee concluded that all the three candidates meet the set requirements, possess high personal and moral qualities, are of a distinguished professional background, have excellent linguistic skills and guarantee independent, impartial and fair decision-making.
To complete the information, the following two applicants have been selected as substitutes:
Consequently, the List of Candidates containing the three candidates has been sent to the Advisory Panel of Experts on Candidates for Election as Judge to the ECtHR[…]. Pursuant to Art. 7(2) of the Rules, the List of Candidates has subsequently been submitted by the Minister of Justice to the Government which then approved the List of Candidates (Government Resolution No. 615 as of 12 July 2021).
In line with the Art. 7(2) of the Rules, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hereby submits the List of Candidates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Annex to Government Resolution No 648 of 15 June 2020
Rules governing the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights
Candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the “Court”) elected in respect of the Czech Republic under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter referred to as the “Convention”)Note shall be selected in a selection procedure according to the following rules:
Article 1 - Timetable of the selection procedure
(1) The Ministry of Justice (hereinafter referred to as the “Ministry”) shall make a call for applications for the post of judge at the Court no later than fourteen months before the expected end of the term of office of the current judge at the Court elected in respect of the Czech Republic. There shall be at least a two-month period between the publication of the call on the Ministry’s website pursuant to Article 3(1) and the deadline for the submission of applications. The Minister of Justice shall submit a draft list of candidates to the Government no later than eight months before the expected end of the term of office of the current judge at the Court.
(2) If the post of the judge at the Court elected in respect of the Czech Republic falls vacant before the end of his or her term of office, the Ministry shall make a call for applications without undue delay. There shall be at least a two-month period between the publication of the call on the Ministry’s website and the deadline for the submission of applications. The Minister of Justice shall submit a draft list of candidates to the Government no later than five months from the deadline for the submission of applications.
Article 2 - Criteria for office
(1) A candidate for the post of judge at the Court shall:
(a) be a citizen of the Czech Republic;
(b) be of high moral character and possess the qualifications required for appointment to high judicial office or to the Constitutional Court or be a jurisconsult of recognised competence;
(c) guarantee his or her independence and impartiality in the performance of the duties of a judge at the Court upon election;
(d) have the necessary knowledge of international protection of human rights and, in particular, the case law of the Court;
(e) be proficient in at least one official language of the Court and possess at least a passive knowledge of the other;Note
(f) be less than 65 years of age at the date by which the list of three candidates has been requested by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,Note if this date is after the entry into force of Protocol No. 15 to the Convention.Note
(2) A candidate for the post of judge at the Court should:
(a) be proficient in both official languages of the Court;
(b) meet the age criterion, whereby the age limit of 70 yearsNote enables him or her to serve as a judge for a full and proper term of officeNote or, if elected to replace a judge whose term of office has not expired, the age limit of 70 years enables him or her to serve as a judge for the remainder of his or her predecessor’s term;Note the provisions of this subparagraph shall not apply after the entry into force of Protocol No. 15 to the Convention;
(c) not, if elected, give rise to the need to appoint ad hoc judges to consider applications submitted to the Court.
Article 3 - Call for applications
(1) The Ministry shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the call for applications is made available to the public as widely as possible. In particular, it shall publish the call on its website and notify it to courts, public prosecutor’s offices, legal professional organisations and deans of the law faculties of public universities in the Czech Republic.
(2) In the call, the Ministry shall specify the requirements of applications and other details concerning their submission.
(3) Applicants shall submit their applications to the Ministry within the time limit specified in the call.
Article 4 - Composition of the selection committee
(1) The selection committee shall consist of nine members, specifically:
(a) the Minister of Justice or his or her delegated deputy minister at the Ministry of Justice, who shall also chair the committee;
(b) the Minister of Foreign Affairs or his or her delegated deputy minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
(c) the Agent of the Government of the Czech Republic before the Court;
(d) the President of the Constitutional Court;
(e) the President of the Supreme Court;
(f) the President of the Supreme Administrative Court;
(g) the Public Defender of Rights;
(h) a member appointed by the President of the Czech Bar Association;
(i) a member appointed by the deans of law faculties of public universities.
(2) Persons applying for the post of a judge at the Court and persons in a family or similar relationship with an applicant are not entitled to sit on the committee; in cases of doubt, a decision shall be taken by the committee.
(3) If a member appointed pursuant to paragraph (1)(c) to (g) is unable to participate personally in the committee, his or her immediate statutory subordinate shall become a member of the committee instead. If a member appointed pursuant to paragraph (1)(h) or (g) is unable to participate personally in the committee, the person or persons appointing that member shall appoint another member instead.
Article 5 - Session of the selection committee
(1) The committee shall be convened for session by the Minister of Justice after the deadline for the submission of applications has expired. The committee shall be quorate if at least five of its members are present. It shall pass decisions by a majority of the votes of those members present. The committee chairperson shall have the casting vote in the event of a tie.
(2) The committee chairperson shall examine the applications submitted, where appropriate invite applicants to clarify any discrepancies in their applications, and distribute the applications to the other members of the committee. At the same time, he or she shall propose the exclusion of those applications which manifestly do not meet the requirements of Article 2(1) or are incomplete and in respect of which the applicant has not given sufficient justification for failing to comply with the requirements set out in the call under Article 3(2), and shall set a reasonable time limit for members of the committee to respond to this proposal. If no member of the committee objects to the exclusion of a given application within the set time limit, the committee shall no longer take that application into account. The committee chairperson shall notify this decision to the applicant concerned.
(3) The committee chairperson shall subsequently invite applicants whose applications have not been excluded pursuant to paragraph (2) to attend an interview, and shall do so no later than ten days before the interview is to be held. In its interviews with applicants, the committee shall comprehensively examine their suitability to hold the post of a judge at the Court and shall ascertain their motivation. It may request additional documents from applicants. In those cases where applicants have not credibly demonstrated that they have the language proficiency required to hold the post, the committee shall assess, in an appropriate manner, their linguistic abilities.
(4) After carrying out the procedure under paragraph (3), the committee shall exclude applicants who do not meet the requirements set out in Article 2(1). If there are fewer than three remaining applicants or if both sexes are not represented, the committee shall decide how to proceed in order to find the candidates missing; Article 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(5) The committee shall select, from the remaining applicants, the three who best meet the requirements set out in Article 2. However, if the candidates selected do not include a candidate of a sex that accounts for fewer than two fifths of the judges at the Court at the time the Parliamentary Assembly invited the Czech Republic to submit its list of candidates, the committee shall place a candidate of the unrepresented sex in third place. The committee may also select one or two alternates from among the remaining applicants, in the appropriate order, taking into account the objective pursued by the preceding sentence.
(6) The committee shall issue a record of its decision-making, in which it shall briefly state the reasons for its decisions. The committee chairperson shall notify applicants of the outcome of the selection procedure.
(7) If, after the committee has selected three candidates, one of them withdraws, dies or ceases to meet the requirements set out in Article 2(1), the committee shall select a replacement candidate, unless an alternate has previously been selected under paragraph (5), or shall mutatis mutandis follow the procedure pursuant to the second sentence of paragraph (4).
Article 6 - Consultation of the Advisory PanelNote
(1) The Minister of Justice shall submit the selected candidates to the Advisory Panel of Experts on Candidates for Election as Judge to the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the “Advisory Panel”), established by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, for an assessment of whether they fulfil the prescribed requirements.Note He or she shall usually do so within the time limit set by the Advisory Panel.
(2) At the same time, the Minister of Justice shall inform the Advisory Panel of these Rules Governing the Selection of Candidates for the Post of Judge at the Court and of the course of the selection procedure, and shall also provide the Advisory Panel with any additional information it may request.
(3) If the Advisory Panel concludes that any of the nominated candidates does not fulfil the prescribed requirements, such a candidate shall be treated as though he or she had been excluded from the selection procedure; the Minister of Justice shall notify the candidate thereof. The Minister of Justice shall submit an alternate candidate, in the determined running order, to the Advisory Panel for assessment or, in the absence of such an alternate, shall refer the matter to the selection committee in order for the procedure referred to in Article 5(7) or, where appropriate, in the second sentence of Article 5(4) to be followed.
(4) In relation to the Advisory Panel, the Minister of Justice shall act through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, unless they agree otherwise.
Article 7 - List of candidates of the Czech Republic
(1) The list of candidates of the Czech Republic shall consist of three candidates selected following the procedure laid down in Article 5. The candidates shall be listed in alphabetical order.
(2) The list of candidates shall be approved by the Government on a proposal from the Minister of Justice. The Minister of Foreign Affairs shall then transmit the list of candidates, together with information on these Rules Governing the Selection of Candidates for the Post of Judge at the Court and on the course of the selection procedure, to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
(3) If the Government does not approve the list of candidates, the selection procedure shall be repeated. The time limits referred to in Article 1 may be shortened accordingly in such case. If the reasons that moved the Government not to approve the list of candidates so allow, for the purposes of the repeated selection procedure the committee may decide to use the applications submitted in the original selection procedure.
(4) If any of the candidates withdraws or dies before the Parliamentary Assembly votes, the Minister of Justice shall proceed with an alternate selected by the selection committee under Article 6 and, in the absence of an alternate, shall convene the committee to decide how to proceed in order to find a replacement candidate. Articles 5 and 6 shall then apply mutatis mutandis. Only the replacement candidate shall be submitted to the Government for approval under paragraph (2).
(5) Paragraph (4) shall also apply mutatis mutandis if the Parliamentary Assembly does not accept, in its entirety, the list of candidates
Name, forename: Langášek, Tomas
Sex: male
Date and place of birth: 13 February 1974, Kyjov, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic)
Nationality: Czech
For more details see personal profiles at www.nssoud.cz and www.usoud.cz
https://www.usoud.cz/en/emeriti-justices-and-court-officials
None
None, apart from judicial and administrative positions mentioned above
None
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Nothing relevant
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I do confirm my intention to follow intensive language classes of French prior to the term of duty if elected a judge on the Court. Actually, 1 have already started at the Alliance française in Brno (DELF B2 tout public exam taken on 16 September 2020, results not known yet) and will continue.
Married since 2005, five children (born in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2018).
I do confirm that I together with my family will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg if elected a judge on the Court.
Name, surname: Šimáčková, Kateřina
Sex: female
Date and place of birth: 23 October 1966, Brno, Czech Republic
Nationality: Czech
In my capacity as a law clerk to Mr Antonín Procházka, judge of the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Czechoslovakia, I participated after 1989 in the development of this institution which played a crucial role in establishing the rule of law and the protection of human rights.
In my career as a practicing lawyer and litigator (1993–2009) I specialized in human rights issues, I represented clients before the Czech courts in all areas of law, several times before the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and also before the European Court of Human Rights.
The Supreme Administrative Court where I worked as a judge protects in its case law, among other things, subjective public rights of individuals against the State.
In my work as a judge at the Czech Constitutional Court, my most important role is to examine constitutional complaints filed by individuals who claim an infringement of their fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights. I have the reputation of a judge who very often applies the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
My teaching activity at the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University in Brno is also oriented towards the field of human rights protection. Among the courses I teach, I put special emphasis on courses and legal clinics devoted to human rights, notably to constitutional law, legal protection of human rights, as well as a moot court in the field of human rights. I also teach courses in these areas at the Judicial Academy, an independent institution whose mission is to organise continuing education of judges.
My activities abroad – notably my work in the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) – are motivated mostly by my effort to protect human rights. I have given lectures on human rights in Belarus (as part of my activities at the Venice Commission), in Libya (as part of the activities of the Czech non-governmental non-profit organization People in Need), in China on the issue of violence against women (under the auspices of the Embassy of the Czech Republic) or on the occasion of the ISPCAN international congress in 2018 on children's rights.
My focus on human rights protection is also apparent from the articles, studies and books that I have published so far.
1988–1989 – lawyer in the Regional hygienical station, Brno, Czech Republic
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I have never been a member of any political party or political movement and I have never held any directly elected office.
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Yes, I am absolutely ready to continue my language training.
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Of course, I am fully available to do so.
Name, surname: Simon, Pavel
Sex: male
Date and place of birth: 16 July 1975 in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia
Nationality: Czech
Application of the Convention and ECHR case-law on daily basis in State liability disputes
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