Filenews 13 April 2022
The article-by-article discussion of the three bills for the reform of the Highest Level of Justice was completed on Wednesday, with the Minister of Justice and the President of the Cyprus Bar Association calling on MPs to support this effort by passing them into laws when they are tabled in plenary soon, warning of the collapse of the highest rank otherwise.
The bills are expected to be brought to plenary either in late April, or early May.
In their statements, after the meeting of the House Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, both the Minister of Justice, Stefi Drakou, and the President of the Cyprus Bar Association, Christos Clerides, said that there are currently about 5,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court. There are 42,000 cases pending in the first instance jurisdiction, the Minister said.
Mrs. Drakou, based on the discussion in the Commission and one of the few, as she said, comments made in the article-by-article discussion, expressed optimism that, "this last-ditch effort to save our Justice, the Rule of Law, will come to a happy ending".
Whatever was to be said, it was said, the Minister said, referring to the lengthy discussions on the bills.
"We have reached the stage of the final decisions, my appeal to the House is to look at the matter quickly and to bring the bills to a vote, because through everyone's mouth, that is what justice needs, otherwise the system will collapse. So the end goal has to be achieved," he said.
He said he remains at the disposal of the House to the end to overcome any concerns that exist.
In response to a question on the problems at primary level, the Minister said that an initiative has been analysed, regardless of the reform that is being promoted at the moment, and which does not concern these three bills, but a broader and very ambitious design that complements these bills and that aims to overcome the problems that have accumulated over the years regarding technology, the administration of the courts and many issues that had been identified as being the ones that created this delay "and we came to this breaking point, where 47,000 cases are pending for trial, 5,000 in the Supreme, 42,000 in Katotati".
With each passing day, he said, "this backlog (volume of work) is growing."
Mr Clerides said that he believes that the matter has been exhausted. He said academic discussions are useful, but there must be an end to them.
"Yesterday I wasn't so optimistic, today I'm more optimistic," he said after the session. He added that every aspect of the whole issue has been exhausted and that these three bills have the support of the Supreme Court, the institutions of the Council of Europe and the European Union, the Attorney General and the Cyprus Bar Association.
"Therefore, the time has come to put an end to the delays observed in the Top Tier," he said, adding that there are 5,000 overdue cases and about 10,000 to 15,000 parties are suffering. Also, about 2,000 lawyers are suffering, who are handling these appeals and who are experiencing a continuous loss of clientele and income, Mr Clerides said.
He warned that if the bills do not pass, "as the Supreme Court has warned, justice in the Top Tier will collapse."
He also said that public confidence in justice has been shaken. "Justice which is slow is not Justice," he said.
In response to a question, he said that with the passage of the bills, a new Court of Appeal, an appellate court and an appeal body will be created, consisting of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and the new Supreme Court.
The Supreme Constitutional Court will be composed of nine Judges and the new Supreme Court of seven Judges. Therefore, he said, in the Highest Tier, we are adding 16 new Appellate Courts and three new Judges, who will staff the Supreme Constitutional and Supreme Court, in addition to the 13. So we will have 19 new judges who, along with the 13 existing ones, will resolve the issue of the backlog.
"A very satisfactory number and I believe that within three years there will be no delays," Mr Clerides said.
The President of the Committee, Nikos Tornaritis, said that years of discussions had come to an end and expressed the hope that "a new great optimistic chapter will be opened for our Justice".
"Everybody says that Justice is on the brink right now, we are here to save the state of affairs, everybody without exception, all the parties, all the institutions, are seeing the same state of affairs," he said.
In the next session, he added, there will be the position of all parties on the bills, expressing the wish, "all without exception, to rise to the occasion, to save the Rule of Law in the Republic of Cyprus".
He called for decisions away from petty party affiliations and calculations.
The Mp of DIKO, Christiana Erotokritou, said that they agree that indeed the secondary jurisdiction should be changed, but the hierarchy of their own priorities, makes the first instance jurisdiction as the goal that everyone should have dealt with "in order to immediately address the huge problems that exist there and at a later stage, those of the secondary jurisdiction."
He referred to the 42,000 late cases in the district courts, which afflict, he said, tens of thousands, litigants, lawyers and often constitute an obstacle to the exercise or pursuit at the appellate level of justice.
Ms Erotokritou said they would look at the final package of bills seriously and express their views on any changes that need to be made.
Alekos Trifonidis, MP of DIPA, said that they support the immediate reform of justice. He said that they will work for creative and effective reform in the Judiciary so that justice is given to the citizens directly, but also for foreign investors, so that they can turn to justice and end an issue in the courts in a short period of time.
Charalambos Theopemptou, President of the Movement of Ecologists – Citizens' Cooperation, said that they will support the reform, even though they believe that there are things they would like to add. He said that his party would like to participate with the right to vote in the Supreme Judicial Council, which will make the recruitments and promotions of Judges, both the President of the Cyprus Bar Association and the Attorney General, but also junior Judges, as well as junior Judges, as well as others. In other countries, even citizens are involved, he said, and that's because Justice is a social matter in a rule of law.
He also said that his party is ready to participate in the meeting called by the Minister of Justice in order to see the changes that need to be made to alleviate the problems observed in the courts of first instance. The meeting will take place on April 20.
CNA
