Filenews 20 January 2021 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis
After process processes and meetings on meetings, the new package of bills for justice reform is ready.
The bills, as prepared by the Ministry of Justice, were sent to the Legal Service for legislative review with the aim of being examined immediately and re-tabled in the House so that they could be voted on before its dissolution. Under the new rules, the current Supreme Court is divided into supreme constitutional court and supreme court with nine and seven judges respectively. In other words, they are increased by three judges than was provided for in the previous bills.
The seven Supreme Court justices will be divided into two chambers, one three for civil cases and another also three for criminal cases, while the 7th judge will be the president of the Court. According to the President of the Cyprus Bar Association, Christos Clerides, who was actively involved in the consultations, an Court of Appeal is also set up by 16 judges to hear cases pending for years as well as an Opinion Council, which will advise the President of the Republic on who is capable of being appointed as judges to the Supreme and Supreme Constitutional Court. , something that didn't exist until today.
Also, as Mr Clerides told "F", one of the major changes that are being made is the modernisation of the Supreme Judicial Council, which is the body that appoints and promotes judges. It will consist of eight justices, four from the Supreme Secondary Court and one from the Court of Appeal, a District Court president, a senior district judge and a district judge.
This Council will also include the Attorney General and two lawyers (the president of the Cyprus Bar Association and a lawyer with more than 12 years of experience in combat law). As the president of the lawyers pointed out, this proposal for the Supreme Judicial Council is in line with Greco's provisions of a report on corruption, since all levels of justice are represented.
According to Mr Clerides, the philosophy of justice reform is now specialisation, since people who will be qualified according to the type of cases they will hear will be recruited as judges. A lawyer who has specialized in criminal law will no longer be able to appoint a judge and hear civil cases or vice versa. In the same way, there should be specialisation in the Court of First Instance.
One of the radical changes also concerns the activation of part of Article 144 of the Constitution where a constitutional issue is raised and has not been dealt with before, to be referred directly to the Supreme Constitutional Court for resolution.
