A/HRC/11/41 page 18 59. According to the Basic Principles, judges shall be subject to suspension or removal only for reasons of incapacity or behaviour that renders them unfit to discharge their duties. The Human Rights Committee, in paragraph 20 of its general comment No. 32, specified that judges may be dismissed only on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence.75 60. On many occasions, the Special Rapporteur expressed concern that, in a number of Member States, the legislature or executive branches play an important, if not decisive, role in disciplining judges. The Human Rights Committee has also raised its concern about parliamentary control over disciplinary procedures of judges76 and about the dismissal of judges by the executive, e.g. before the expiry of the term for which they have been appointed, without specific legal and procedural safeguards.77 The Special Rapporteur has expressed his concern with regard to the Judicial Commission of the Supreme Court of Venezuela which can remove judges at its discretion without neither a justified cause nor disciplinary proceedings guaranteeing the fairness of the dismissal.78 61. In this context, it is vital to note that the Human Rights Committee highlighted the importance of the existence of an independent body or mechanism with the responsibility of disciplining judges.79 It further highlighted that the procedure before such a body must be in compliance with the due process and fair trial guarantees.80 This requirement applies also if the removal is decided by political bodies, e.g. the legislative branch. Most importantly and regardless of the type of disciplinary body, an independent review of the decision of the 75 See also communication No. 1376/2005, Soratha Bandaranayake v. Sri Lanka, CCPR/C/93/D/1376/2005, para. 7.3. 76 CCPR/CO/79/LKA, para. 16. 77 CCPR/C/GC/32 (footnote 1), para. 20; communication No. 814/1998, Pastukhov v. Belarus, para. 7.3; communication No. 933/2000, Adrien Mundyo Busyo et al. v. Democratic Republic of the Congo, CCPR/C/78/D/933/200, para. 5.2. 78 See allegation letter to the Government of Venezuela of 9 March 2009, A/HRC/11/41/Add.1, Venezuela. 79 80 CCPR/CO/84/TJK, para. 17; CCPR/C/79/Add.118, para. 14. CCPR/C/93/D/1376/2005 (footnote 75), para. 6.5; CCPR/C/78/D/933/2000 (footnote 77), para. 5.2; CCPR/CO/75/MDA, para. 12; see also Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of the Constitutional Court v. Peru, 31/1/2001, paras. 74 and 84; Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Apitz Barbera et al. v. Venezuela, para. 44.