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joint panel has found a number of judges breached the code of ethics this year.

The joint panel, which was set up by the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court to review ethics breaches among judges, has handed down penalties to seven judges this year. Out of the seven cases, four involved adultery, two bribery and one drug abuse.

Two female judges were involved in the adultery cases.

'€œWell, there'€™s not too many adultery cases, especially compared to minor violations such as procedural errors, administrative errors or meeting with litigants. But adultery is a real ethical breach,'€ Judicial Commission member Imam Anshori said on Thursday.

Imam said he was baffled by the fact that the two extramarital cases involved female judges.

In an ethics hearing on Wednesday, a female judge at an East Java lower court, Vica Natalia, a Jombang District Court judge, was found guilty of breaching the judges'€™ ethics code by having extramarital affairs with fellow judge and a lawyer.

The ethics panels stripped her of her position.

In her defense, the mother of three pre-teen daughters denied she had affairs with the two men. She also said that her husband, a reverend, had failed to provide for her family.

Following the panel'€™s decision, Vica, who wore a head scarf during the hearing, filed a report with the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

'€œBasically I accept the panel'€™s verdict. But there are some points that were used to back up the verdict that I can'€™t accept '€” the allegation of romance, special relations and affairs, and that I was caught red-handed making out,'€ she said.

'€œI am a mother of three daughters. In the eyes of my children, I never do anything that'€™s bad for the family. For 15 years, I have had a good standing in the eyes of my children and other people,'€ she added.

Her lawyer Agung Widodo said a report against Vica'€™s husband for domestic violence had been filed with Komnas Perempuan.

Vica also objected to the photos of herself naked used as evidence at the ethics hearing, explaining that they were only selfies and not meant for public viewing.

In February, another young female judge, Adria Dwi Afanti of the Simalungun District Court in North Sumatra, was banned from hearing cases for two years after the ethics panel said she had breached the ethics code by having an affair with a policeman.

In July, an ethics panel dismissed judge Acep Sugiana of Singkawang District Court in West Kalimantan for having affairs with four women and for condoning one of the women having an abortion.

'€œIn terms of affairs and adultery, we have guided them, and at the same time warned them since the beginning of the judges'€™ recruitment process,'€ Imam said. '€œJudges should be ready to face all the consequences of their profession, including not committing adultery,'€ he said.