Johann Kriegler, a retired justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, has met Speaker of Parliament of Maldives and member of Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Mohamed Nasheed to gather information on the JSC of Maldives.
The retired South African justice gathered information on the mandate of JSC, the role played by the commission in Maldivian judiciary and the plans to be executed in the future, according to JSC. In the meeting, Nasheed was accompanied by JSC members; Ibrahim Riffath, Latheefa Qasim and Dr. Ali Shameem.
The Attorney General’s Office revealed the meeting was held as part of the efforts to reform the judiciary. As per the pledge of the government, Maldives seek international professional assistance in the efforts to execute a total reform of the judiciary, according to the Attorney General’s Office. In this regard, Johann Kriegler will go through the existing legal frameworks of the judiciary, identify the challenges faced by the judiciary in enforcing and implementing the laws formed to be followed by the courts and make recommendations for reform.
The Attorney General’s Office states Johann Kriegler will be in Maldives until June 2 and will meet government offices and authorities, judicial institutions, non-governmental organisations and local experts.
Between 1976 and 1983, Kriegler served intermittently as an acting judge and in 1984 was appointed to the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court. Between 1990 and 1993, he acted in the Appellate Division, then the highest court in the country, and was permanently appointed to its bench in 1993. The following year, he was appointed a founding justice of the newly formed Constitutional Court of South Africa and completed his term of office in 2002.