The Cyprus Bar Association is set to stage a two-hour protest on Thursday outside the Supreme Court to voice its opposition to regulations aiming to speed up cases that have been dragging on for too long.
Set to take place between 9.30-11.30am, the association said the 2022 (special) regulations on sentencing delayed cases and only serve to add more pressure on lawyers and judges alike. “Sentencing cases under pressure will lead to dismissing a large number of cases, heightening the feeling of injustice to the public.”
Announcing the protest, the association said delayed cases cannot be tackled with “suppressing regulations” but by implementing a slew of measures, adopting measures on sentencing while increasing the number of judges, hiring retired individuals and recording the minutes of cases.
“Delayed cases cannot be tackled using a philosophy that promotes express solutions that violate basic principles, the constitution, EU law, the European Convention of Human Rights and the principles of natural justice, blatantly ignoring the role of lawyers in the judicial process.”
The regulations, published by the supreme court on Friday deal with cases between 2014 – 2018 that have yet to be heard.
Chairpersons of the district bar associations will prepare their own report on how backlog can be tackled.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Mail
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Mail
Source
