established as at the date of this judgment. The Court considers that the failure to establish the Constitutional Court from the parliamentary elections of 26 October 2014 up until the adoption of the 17 August 2022, creates a legal vacuum in the Respondent State’s judicial and legal order. This vacuum is all the more obvious given that constitutional control has been completely absent since the IPCCPL was abolished on 22 September 2021.23 87. With regard to the abolition of the High Judicial Council (HJC), the Court notes that by Decree-law No.22-11 of 12 February 2022,24 the Respondent State dissolved the HJC and replaced it with a provisional body. Under this decree-law, the President of the Republic is also empowered to dismiss judges. Accordingly, the Court finds that this law empowers the Head of State to intervene in the discipline and dismissal of judges,25 in violation of the obligation to guarantee the independence of the judiciary. 88. The Court observes that independence of the judiciary implies that judges must be free from any influence or pressure exerted by the executive, pressure groups or any other socio-professional entity or by parties to proceedings.26 It also observes that the independence of the judiciary is curtailed if other authorities have to intervene in judges’ career, particularly as regards their promotion or the cycle of judicial discipline. In this regard, the Court recalls that it has already stated that neither the executive nor the legislature may interfere, directly or indirectly, in the judiciary’s decisionmaking powers, including the power to manage the careers of magistrates, who are the embodiment of the judiciary. 23 Belguith v. Tunisia, ACtPHR, Application No. 017/2021, Judgment of 22 September 2022, supra, §100. 24 See Decree-Law no. 2022-11 of 12 February 2022, on the creation of the Provisional High Council of the Judiciary (Official Gazette, 2022-02-13, no. 16), repealing Organic Law No. 2016-34 of 28 April 2016, on the High Judicial Council. Under the Organic Law of 28 April 2016, the Council was made up of judges appointed ex officio and others elected by their peers. 25 On 1 June 2022, the President dismissed 57 judges by presidential decree. 26 Sébastien Germain Marie Aîkoué Ajavon v. Benin (merits and reparations) (4 December 2020), 4 AfCLR 133, § 312; ACtHPR, Application No. 008/2024: Hammadi Rahmani et al v. Republic of Tunisia (provisional measures), (3 October 2024) §§ 33-35. 24