From 15th to 17th of April 2026, the German Association of Judges and Prosecutors (Deutscher Richterbund, DRB) held its 24th Justice Summit in the city of Weimar, dedicated to the main topic “Save the Rule of Law!”. The conference was attended by almost 1100 participants and featured high-level speakers such as the German Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig, the President of the Federal Supreme Court Bettina Limperg, and renowned author Juli Zeh who also is a Judge at the Constitutional Court of Brandenburg. The IAJ and the EAJ were represented by IAJ President Walter Barone, EAJ President Sabine Matejka and Vice President Roland Kempfle.
The speakers and panellists analysed current threats to the rule of law, discussed initiatives of the judiciary, politics, and civil society to safe(guard) the rule of law, and the participants were given possibilities to engage in discussion in different formats themselves. IAJ Vice President Kempfle moderated a keynote speech of former Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland, Adam Bodnar, and a discussion with the participants in which Mr. Bodnar highlighted the activities of the Polish Judges Associations IUSTITIA and Themis to engage directly with civil society.
During the opening ceremony, the DRB presented its 2026 Human Rights Award to Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez for his commitment to fighting for the rule of law, for the rights of minorities, and against systemic corruption is his home country Guatemala. Judge Gálvez is a member of Asociación Guatemalteco de Jueces por la Integridad (AGJI) which has become a member of the IAJ in 2018. The threats he experienced due to his commitment for the rule of law were, among others, documented in a report of the IAJ and FLAM in 2022 (FLAM and IAJ report on Guatemala – IAJ-UIM).
Besides the key events, workshops held by practitioners for practitioners were offered as well, such as on the use of legal tech and AI in judicial work, on resilience training for judges and prosecutors, or on legal developments in various fields of law.
