High Court of Impeachment

This is how matters are decided

The Chairperson shall convene the High Court of Impeachment once the decision to bring charges has arrived at him or her. The decision to bring charges before the High Court of Impeachment in matters of ministerial responsibility is made by Parliament on the basis of the opinion of the Constitutional Committee.

The prosecution in the High Court of Impeachment is being prosecuted by the Prosecutor General. However, the Chancellor of Justice or the Ombudsman may prosecute a member of the Supreme Court or the Supreme Administrative Court.

A private citizen cannot bring a case before the High Court of Impeachment.

The matter shall be dealt with in the High Court of Impeachment such as criminal matters in applicable parts. A judgment of the High Court of Impeachment may not be appealed against.

Members of the High Court of Impeachment

The High Court of Impeachment comprises the President of the Supreme Court as chairperson, the President of the Supreme Administrative Court and the three oldest presidents of the courts of appeal, and five Members elected by Parliament, whose term of office is four years.

• Chairperson, President Tatu Leppänen, Supreme Court
• Vice Chair, President Kari Kuusiniemi, Supreme Administrative Court
• President Asko Välimaa, Helsinki Court of Appeal
  
• President Antti Savela, Eastern Finland Court of Appeal
• President Jyrki Kiviniemi, Rovaniemi Court of Appeal
  

Members elected by Parliament 1.1.2024 - 31.12.2027

• Member of Parliament Pihla Keto-Huovinen, (Deputy Member, Member of Parliament Mari Kaunistola)
• Member of Parliament Pekka Toveri, (Deputy Member, Member of Parliament Karoliina Partanen)
• Member of Parliament Onni Rostila, (Deputy Member, Member of Parliament Juho Eerola)
• Member of Parliament Tarja Filatov, (Deputy Member, Member of Parliament Mika Kari)
• Attorney-at-Law, LL.M., trained on the bench, Anssi Kyllönen, (Deputy Member, LL.M., trained on the bench Eeva-Maria Maijala)

Contact information

Communications at the Supreme Court, tel. 02956 40052, viestinta.kko(at)oikeus.fi

General principles

Notification of disqualification

The judge’s oath warns its issuer of any kind of malevolence. A friend must not be favoured; an enemy must not be oppressed.

A member of the court is challengeable, when a party or another person has a justified reason to doubt the impartiality of the judge in the case in question. In such cases, a member of the court shall, on his or her own initiative, withdraw from the proceedings of the case, i.e. withdraw himself or herself. If the question of disqualification is unclear, it must be discussed with other members before the matter is dealt with.

In most cases, the disqualification arises because a member of the court is too close to the party to the case, to an-other person involved in the trial (e.g. a witness, expert) or to the case itself. A close relationship may be based on family membership or relatives or other special relationship between a judge and a party. The disqualification may also result from a service relationship or a significant business relationship with the party or from an active activity in the community concerned.

Membership in the administration of a limited liability company or other community makes a member of the court disqualified in matters concerning the community in question. Participating in activities of municipal administrative bodies may cause disqualification in criminal cases in which the municipality is a party. Participation in an earlier hearing of the same matter by another authority or court is a reason to withdraw from the proceedings in court. When you are a party to a trial, you may be prevented, as a member of the court, from dealing with a similar matter of another person.

Declaration of interests

Before taking up the duties, the judge and the lay judge shall notify the court of their interests. Information on the interests will be entered in the Judges' Register of Interests and Secondary Occupations, which has been introduced since the beginning of 2017. The register is maintained by the Legal Register Centre. The register is public.

Confidentiality

The members of the court shall, in accordance with their oath, be obliged to keep secret the deliberations that the court has held before its decision.

The court does not explain its decisions afterwards, and the grounds for each decision can be found in the reasoning of the judgment.

Some sensitive cases may be handled in court in camera, which means that public access to the court room is completely forbidden. At that time, a member of the court may not even tell the public about the course of the proceedings.