Filenews 22 April 2025
Measures after the Easter aberrations in relation to juvenile delinquency, Minister of Justice Marios Hartsiotis announced, underlining that "this is not the time for responsibility".
Specifically, he said that in cooperation with the Minister of Education, extracurricular delinquency will be transferred to the child's school education and will even reflect on his high school diploma, at the point of his conduct. In addition, he said, he will appeal to the Supreme Court so that juvenile cases proceed to trial immediately after arrest, without delay.
During his statement on CyBC's Morning Itinerary show, Mr. Hartsiotis noted that these days "we saw Molotov cocktails being thrown at police officers, burning tyres in the middle of the streets", stressing that these incidents were far from places where there were lampratzia and therefore that these behaviours did not concern the custom. "It has to do with incidents of juvenile delinquency."
Responding to the report of "F" regarding the policies and the failure of the state apparatus to regulate the lampratzia resulting in the death of a 22-year-old, Mr. Hartsiotis underlined: "This is not the time for responsibility".
He explained that in February 2025, the Council of Ministers approved a relevant bill on lambratzia and three sessions in the Parliament followed. "I called on the Parliament, even the last one, on April 10, to vote on it," he said, however, his request was not heeded. "I expect that they will immediately call us and we are ready to attend, to support it and to settle an issue that has been going on for a long time."
It is unfair for recklessness for someone to become a state responsibility or the responsibility of parents to manage their children to become a state responsibility, he said. "These parents wondered where their children were and what did they do?" he said.
"It is not possible to have a police officer in every home to take care of the children of the world," he said, adding that it is not possible for the police to crack down on juvenile delinquency as it has evolved. The incidents, he said, concern children aged 11, 12, 14. Conduct at such an age primarily concerns the family and secondarily the school, he concluded.
