An overview of the activity of the Ministry of Justice: the reform of the penal system, innovations in the legal system and aid to Ukraine
A year ago, the justice community had festive aspects in mind when it was preparing to see the New Year in: the year 2022 marked the 100th anniversary of the first democratic Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the 30th anniversary of the currently valid Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. Still, after Russia started a war in Ukraine on February 24, the Ministry concentrated its efforts on implementing unprecedented legal aid measures aimed at assisting Ukraine; at the same time it continued the implementation of the strategic reform of the penal system, the revision of the functions of the judiciary and the notary, and other different initiatives aimed at strengthening respect for human rights.
Legal aid for Ukraine's fight for freedom
When Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine broke out, the Ministry of Justice immediately reacted to violations of international law. This means that for the first time in history, Lithuania has made use of the possibility under the Rome Statute to open an international investigation and has intervened in international cases.
On 28 February, Lithuania was the first country to make use of the possibility under Article 14 of the Rome Statute by requesting the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia and Belarus. Recognising the challenges and workload faced by this court, Lithuania allocated an additional sum of EUR 100,000 to contribute to the work of this court.
On 1 March, Minister of Justice Ewelina Dobrowolska requested the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Lithuania to assess the crime of aggression committed by the heads of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus against Ukraine. The Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania provides for liability for the crime of aggression thus making it possible to prosecute those responsible for it (based on the principle of universal jurisdiction) and to try them in absentia. This pre-trial investigation has been launched.
The EU Justice and Home Affairs Council on 4 March agreed that Member States strongly condemn the unprovoked military invasion against Ukraine by the aggressors and will work to consolidate efforts to bring the aggressors to justice.
On 12 May, the Ministry of Justice hosted an international expert conference „Criminal Responsibility for War of Aggression against Ukraine. How Can Justice Be Done? “.
On 21 May, the Minister of Justice formally addressed the European Commission's Commissioner for Justice and the Ministers of Justice of the EU Member States urging them to consider at EU level the establishment of a special tribunal to ensure the international criminal liability of the dictators of Russia and Belarus as well as of other individuals who planned and directed the aggression against Ukraine. Since then, the issue has been consistently addressed at the Council of the European Union and by the working group of representatives of the United Nations organization.
On July 22, Lithuania submitted an application to join the case at the International Court of Justice brought by Ukraine on February 26, 2022. Lithuania will contribute to the interpretation of international law in order to ensure correct application of the Genocide Convention.
On August 12, Lithuania submitted a formal application asking for permission to intervene in the case Ukraine v. Russian Federation at the International Court of Justice as a third party.
Reform of the system of the execution of sentences
The past two years marked a new stage in the system of the execution of sentences. It focuses on the improvement of the resocialisation of convicted persons. To achieve this goal, an independent Lithuanian Probation Service has been established on 1 July 2022. General Romas Ostanavičius became the head of this service. One month into the activity of the Lithuanian Probation Service, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania approved of the reorganisation of the Department of Prisons and its subordinate institutions which will make a single legal entity, i.e., the Prison Service of Lithuania. The newly adopted regulation on places of the execution of sentences is in line with international standards and will help raise the standard of activity of the places of the execution of sentences.
Strengthening safeguards for parties participating in criminal proceedings
The Ministry of Justice team also paid particular attention to reinforcing guarantees for parties participating in criminal proceedings. The institute of provisional detention underwent a reform with the aim of ensuring that this most severe procedural coercive measure was used only in exceptional cases. In addition, the reform introduced a possibility of reimbursement of lawyers' fees for persons acquitted in criminal proceedings and for those whose proceedings for administrative offences have been discontinued. Finally, a possibility for prosecutors and courts to impose precautionary measures such as bail has been clarified and simplified.
Functions not specific to courts have been rejected
Some necessary innovations have been introduced in the Lithuanian system. First, this concerns the legal system where a revision of the existing practice has led to the abolition of the functions that are not specific to courts. Amendments to the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania adopted by the Seimas provide that as of 1 January 2023, a part of non-contentious issues will be transferred to notaries to be decided upon. These include the issues of divorce where the spouses have no minor children, authorisations to modify a marriage contract, authorisations to enter into family immovable property transactions, etc.
At the same time, access to legal services has been increased. The Legal Aid Services Information System (TEISIS) which provides remote legal advice and state-funded secondary legal aid became fully operational. In addition, the guidelines for the organisation of remote proceedings have been adopted. In order to further speed up the court process for the public, the Judicial Council has been given the possibility to distribute the electronic applications for the issuance of a court order to those courts where the required orders could be issued most quickly. These decisions will ease the workload faced by Lithuanian courts.
There are going to be many more cases where the presence of a notary will not be necessary.
In addition, some redundant functions have been abolished in the field of notary activity. The Seimas approved of the Ministry of Justice's initiative to abolish the compulsory notary form in cases of a written consent of the other spouse to adoption, the authenticity of the translation of a document, and contracts of entrustment of state and municipal property. The number of cases in which a mortgage can be cancelled without the involvement of a notary has been extended. The possibility of transferring the function of recognition of paternity of a child born out of wedlock directly to civil registry offices was also approved. In an effort to increase the accessibility of notary services, a hybrid method of notary acts (where one party participates in person and the other party participates remotely) has been introduced as of 1 July 2021, as well as the possibility of accessing notary services remotely.
Ensuring quality standards of digital services
In the field of consumer protection which is the area of the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, the quality of digital services has been taken into account. The Ministry has detailed the procedures for ensuring the quality of these services and improved the conditions for protecting consumers against unfair commercial practices. This has led to the extension of a "blacklist" of misleading commercial practices. The extended list includes provision of certain online search results based on a user's previous online search, resale of tickets to events purchased online, and provision of false consumer or customer feedback.
In cases where consumers suffered from unfair commercial practices, redress options have been adopted, such as a reduction in the price of the goods or services, or a possibility of terminating the contract with the trader.
International cooperation
The Ministry of Justice has been consistently reinforcing its position in the field of international legal cooperation. Cooperation agreements were signed with the United Arab Emirates and Brazil in 2021 and 2022, respectively. In both cases, the countries agreed on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters concerning the surrender of convicted persons and extradition.
Combating discrimination
Additional steps have been taken to reduce discrimination in the Lithuanian society. First of all, the Seimas approved of the amendments to the Criminal Code making it possible to combat against certain forms of racism and xenophobia with more efficiency by using the measures provided by the criminal law. The amendments rectify the articles of the Criminal Code on hate speech and hate crimes, and provide that persons shall be held liable for acts of discrimination on the grounds of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, religion, belief or opinion as well as on the grounds of the colour of a person's skin and his or her ethnic origin.
It also regulated the spelling of personal names using the Latin characters X, Q, and W in personal documents and provided criteria permitting the use of the above-mentioned characters in spelling of surnames of Lithuanian citizens. Finally, rules on changing names and surnames of transgender people have been defined.