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SUPREME COURT REPUBLIC OF ESTON IA President Dainius Ža|imas Constitutional Court Republic of Lithuania Gedimino pr.36 Vilnius, LT-O1104 LITHUANIA Tartu, 14 October 2020 Dear President Žalimas, I would like to thank you for the letter proposing a joint statement by the Constitutional Court of Lithuania, Constitutional Court of Latvia and the Supreme Court of Estonia to condemn the legal positions adopted by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus. Your letter draws attention to serious actions made by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus that are problematic under the principle of the rule of law. The Supreme Court of Estonia shares your concerns and appreciates your initiative to seek common position on this matter. Nevertheless, the limited information available to our Court makes it questionable whether we have enough grounds to prepare and circulate a joint statement, especially since it is a political issue regarding the presidential elections and the formation of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian people. Moreover, we are of the opinion that our Court does not have the jurisdiction to verifr the conformity of legal positions adopted by foreign court with the constitution of that foreign state. In these challenging circumstances it is difficult for us to form an opinion about documents adopted by other constitutional courts. The independence of the judicial system and the Constitutional Court in assuring the protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law is crucial. The independence ofjudges is a guarantee that a dispute before a court is adjudicated fairly and impartially - there can be no rule of law without independent judiciary. The Supreme Court of Estonia has followed the events taking place in the Republic of Belarus with great unease. We believe that this issue deserves to be subject to extensive discussions in independent consultative bodys, which co-operate with constitutional courts. Regarding your proposal to contact institutions that have the competence to include all judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus in the list of persons subject to sanctions we have received information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia that nine judges (including the President) of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus have been added to the joint Baltic list of sanctions as of 25 September 2020. 17 Lossi St,50093 Tartu, ESTONIA. Tel +372 7309002,fax+3727309003, e-mail: [email protected] rvrvlr'. rii gikohus.ee Please accept, Mr. Dainius Žalimas, the assurances of my highest consideration. Yours sincerely, Villu Kõve Chief Justice Supreme Court of Estonia Saatja: Karin Leichter-Tammisto </O=RIIGIKOHUS/OU=EXCHANGE ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=KARIN LEICHTER90D> Saaja: Kadri Nõmm Teema: FW: Letter to the Chief Justice From: Karin Leichter-Tammisto Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 2:29 PM To: 'Rūta Svirnelienė' <[email protected]> Cc: Vita Vilūnienė <[email protected]>; '[email protected]' <[email protected]> Subject: RE: Letter to the Chief Justice Dear Ms. Svirnelienė, Thank you for the letter regarding the situation in Belarus. I have attached a response from Mr. Villu Kõve, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Estonia, to this e-mail. Could you please be so kind and forward this letter to Mr. Dainius Žalimas, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. With kind regards, Karin Leichter-Tammisto Legal Adviser to the Chief Justice The Supreme Court of Estonia tel +372 5014948 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> From: Rūta Svirnelienė <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 10:17 AM To: Karin Leichter-Tammisto <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: Vita Vilūnienė <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Letter to the Chief Justice Dear Ms Leichter-Tammisto, please find enclosed the letter from President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Dainius Žalimas. Please forward it to Chief Justice Villu Kõve. Best regards Rūta Svirnelienė Head of the Division of Administration and Protocol Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Tel. +370 5 210 1613, mob. +370 659 52 952 Gedimino ave. 36, LT-01104 Vilnius www.lrkt.lt <http://www.lrkt.lt> This message is intended only for the addressee named above. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by reply email and delete the message.