Filenews 22 July 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivassilis
Pending the publication of the laws recently passed by the Parliament concerning the reform of the Judiciary, there are a competent ministry, a Supreme Court and lawyers. Various preparations are already being made to advertise a large number of judges' posts, while the changes should be implemented in early 2023.
Soon significant changes are coming to the highest level of justice with the division of the current Supreme Court into a Supreme Constitutional Court and a Supreme Court. As the president of the Pancyprian Bar Association, Christos Clerides, told "F", as soon as the laws are made public, then the transitional Supreme Advisory Council and the transitional Supreme Judicial Council should be established. Both Councils include the Attorney General, the president of the lawyers and two lawyers with 12 years of experience. According to Mr. Clerides, next week the four lawyers will be appointed so that these bodies can be formed. The Advisory Council will propose to the President of the Republic the candidates for appointment to the Constitutional and Supreme Court, while the Judicial Council will appoint the junior judges.
Also, Mr. Clerides added, the positions in the tertiary court, which are five, should now be filled. At the same time, 16 positions of judges will have to be filled, staffed by the new Court of Appeal, another seven who will staff the Admiralty Court and the Commercial Court (five plus two respectively) a total of 28 positions. Existing judges will choose whether to remain in the Supreme Court or whether to staff the Supreme Constitutional Court.
According to the legislation, all Courts will have to operate on 1/1/2023, which is why the new positions of judges will have to be filled by then. "If there is cooperation between all conceerned," he added, "I believe that everything will work smoothly so that it is ready for Justice to enter the new era."
It is noted that the new Court of Appeal, the Commercial Court and the Naval Court will be housed in the area of the Filoxenia Hotel. Also, the Supreme Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court will hear cases in the existing buildings of the Supreme Court.
Under the reform, the Supreme Constitutional Court will be composed of nine judges and the new Supreme Court of Seven Judges. At the moment, three new judges plus two will be needed for the vacancies that exist due to retirements, so it will be required to appoint five new judges to the highest level.
It is noted that there are currently about 5,000 secondary cases pending, the trial of which will be dealt with by the 16 new appellate judges. It is noted that the constitutionality of the laws at the moment does not concern anyone, however it is expected that at some point this issue will be raised, so there will be an opinion from the competent judge.
At the same time, the reform of the first instance proceedings, i.e. the provincial courts of civil and criminal proceedings, is under way. On the instructions of the Minister of Justice Stefi Drakou, a parallel process began with the participation of all parties. It is estimated that more than 45,000 civil cases are pending (mainly concerning lawsuits) and measures should be taken so that they can start to be heard within a reasonable time.
The president of the lawyers has already suggested that retired judges and lawyers, as well as practicing lawyers with many years of experience, should be used for the trial of these cases, so that some cases can be closed and the procedure for the preliminaries of a trial can be promoted so that it can then be forwarded to sitting judges. The aim is for the hearing of a lawsuit to be terminated within three years.
On the issue of the situation with the provincial Courts, Mr. Clerides has sent a letter to the Minister of Justice to convene a meeting to proceed with the necessary procedures.
