Filenews 12 November 2024
Reorganizing the Police and increasing the sense of security, reforming the judiciary and resolving prison overcrowding are the three pillars to which the Minister of Justice gives priority.
Explaining yesterday in Parliament the objectives of his Ministry, Marios Hartsiotis stressed that the government is doing everything possible to restore the sense of security to the citizen and to combat organized crime to the maximum, while a series of actions to solve chronic problems were mentioned. The minister, responding to a barrage of questions from MPs in the Finance Committee about the insecurity that exists, said that measures were taken against crime and expressed the assessment that soon we will have a better sense of security "we are on the right track, but you can never say that you will eliminate crime, crime is not local, it is international".
Regarding the installation of CCTV cameras at key points in cities, Mr. Hartsiotis said that this will help fight organized crime, however, there are personal data issues and answers are expected from the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection. Analyzing his ministry's intentions for prisons, he said that thoughts are being made to apply electronic monitoring to undertrials, in addition to convicts, while he advocated implementing other measures so that citizens do not end up in prison for small debts, such as small VAT debts and small fines.
On the issue of the system for deactivating mobile phones, the justice minister said that the new system will be operational around mid-2025 and already the committee of experts has visited prisons in other countries to see the systems operating there. On this issue, AKEL MP Aristos Damianou referred to an anecdote that "we hear every time about the implementation of a system", with the Minister replying that he does not know about jokes and that his goal is to come up with a new system in '25.
Regarding the "red button", i.e. the "Elpis" plan, where people will be able to send a message to the Police to report incidents of abuse, Mr. Hartsiotis said that the smart application is ready to operate as a pilot in 2024 and from 2025 fully.
Regarding personnel issues, he said that there will be 527 new positions in the Police, while this year 272 new firefighters were hired. At the same time, he referred to the new wing of the Prisons, with the creation of 240 places in the Closed Prison and 60 in the new Open Prison, while in 2025 the construction of a new modern wing will begin with a completion horizon of 2028.
On the issue of violence in stadiums, the minister said that a bill on fan violence will soon be in Parliament, as well as on the operation of fan associations. Responding to MPs' concerns about their protection from fake news, Mr. Hartsiotis said that the relevant bill faced difficulties and objections from media representatives, adding that a meeting of bodies was held at the Ministry and the need to protect freedom of expression and the protection of citizens' personality was highlighted, adding that a committee was set up to examine similar legislation of other countries in order to find a golden mean.
E-justice and i-justice are not related to the Ministry
Regarding Family Law, Marios Hartsiotis said that four bills have been voted and three are before Parliament, while a bill on parent-child relations was sent for changes and amendments and there is legislative scrutiny by the Legal Service.
On e-justice, he said that the e-justice and i-justice systems are not related to the Ministry, however, there is a proposal by the Ministry to upgrade i-justice. Regarding the Nicosia District Court, he said that he has been informed that although the Ministry is not related to the issue, there was an agreement a month ago between the Republic of Cyprus and UNFICYP to move the latter's camp and that the architectural competition will be announced within 2025 with a construction horizon of 2030.
Creation of a 24-hour Business Center
The Chief of Police, Themistos Arnaoutis, in response to questions from MPs, elaborated on the reorganization plan of the Corps, according to which a Operations Centre will be created that will operate on a 24-hour basis, so that all citizens' complaints throughout Cyprus will be forwarded to it and will receive immediate response and control.
Regarding the witness protection plan, the Chief of Police said that this is facing some problems and has already had contacts with the Legal Service. " We see two issues, the creation of a witness building and its staffing. Good work should be done to protect witnesses and their families," he said. Mr. Arnaoutis revealed that there was a case where criminals even opened a grave to blackmail a witness by stealing the body.
Regarding crime, the Chief said that especially in October "we had targeted increased attacks on food distributors, 17 arrests were made and the Police are taking actions with patrols and other measures to control cities."
AKEL's criticisms
On behalf of AKEL, MP Aristos Damianou said regarding the construction of the new building for the Nicosia District Court that "2030 is far away and that we should be more flexible as a state".
In statements after the end of the meeting of the Finance Committee, Mr. Damianou said that answers were given on a number of issues by the Minister of Justice, especially that of crime, adding that "neither the answers were satisfactory, nor do I believe that there is a common understanding of the magnitude of the problem." He also commented that the "much-publicized reform of the judiciary" has not delivered as expected. "Delays remain, the need for changes in the administration of justice at first instance remains. We need to pick up the pace, because citizens, justice officials, justice itself continue to face serious operational problems, which are detrimental to both human rights and the rule of law in general," he added.
