On Saturday, June 25, the parliamentary parties' amendments on justice reform are expected to be discussed in the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee in order to bring the bills to the plenary session on June 30, Committee Chairman Nikos Tornaritis said in a statement after today's session.
The session also discussed the recruitment of 300 border guards to tackle illegal immigration, with Tornaritis saying that although this measure is not expected to fully solve the problem, a start must be made somewhere and answering in the affirmative to a question on whether a majority is expected to be assembled in the plenary despite objections from political parties. For his part, AKEL MP Aristos Damianou said, among other things, that the party will assess the data and position itself accordingly on the bill on the "unfortunate so-called border guards", noting at the same time that no response has been received to the party's repeated appeals to the Ministry and the Legal Service for an opinion on the legality of the measure.
In his statements after the end of the session, committee chairman Nikos Tornaritis said that the preferred amendments to be tabled by each party separately in relation to judicial reform were discussed.
"Although judicial reform is an ongoing process, the creation of a Constitutional and Supreme Court, the creation of a Court of Appeal, is an entirely innovative modernising act that will make a significant contribution to the processing of pending cases and to accountability and control at the highest levels of the judiciary," Tornaritis said, adding that due to the importance of the issue, it was agreed to allow ten days for the parties to submit their amendments in writing. He also announced that the Legal Affairs Committee would reconvene on Saturday, June 25 to go through all the amendments in order "to stand firm on the commitment it made to take the bills to the House of Assembly on June 30."
Asked about the accountability dimension, Mr. Tornaritis said that in democracy everyone has the right of speech and opinion, but the citizen also has the right of judgment and criticism, adding that with the creation of the new courts, there will be mutual control between the two highest courts of the country.
Taking a stand on the issue, AKEL MP Aristos Damianos noted that "for almost 10 years, the Supreme Court itself has been recording in its repeated reports that the justice system in Cyprus is in collapse, so any attempt to pass on this problematic situation to the Parliament, the Legal Affairs Committee or the political parties is both provocative and unfortunate". "Legislators do not judge, but they can judge both efficiency and adequacy and agree and join voice with all those who need to change things in the justice system immediately," he added.
"We take the attempt at reform very seriously, we have said repeatedly that what the Government is attempting to do is not total reform of the judiciary, particularly because of the fact that it does not touch the base of the judiciary, the primary judiciary, to the extent that we would like, but the Supreme Court and the creation of a new appellate court," he said. Damianou, adding that AKEL has taken an initiative by holding talks at the highest level with the executive, with the Ministry of Justice, in an attempt to find a minimum common denominator in order for aspects of the reform to be passed by the Plenum of the Parliament.
"I make no secret of the fact that we are particularly concerned that as the reform heads towards the plenary there are strong reactions from a section of the legal world that questions the content, effectiveness and even the legitimacy of the reform, as well as parties in parliament that are positioning themselves against it," he said. Because, he added, "we believe that projects of this magnitude should have the widest possible acceptance, we will continue our efforts to find the necessary convergence."
Regarding the issue of the 46 police officers who were left out of the recruitment process, Mr. Tornaritis said the Commission is ready to vote on any bill, proposal or regulation sent by the Government to eliminate the problem.
Speaking on the issue, Mr. Damianou said that the recruitment procedures in the Police have been repeatedly found to be problematic, resulting in injustice to these 46 people, and reiterated his call to the Ministry of Justice, the Police leadership and the Legal Service to address the problem and propose viable and lawful solutions.
Referring to a proposed law on the right of the accused or his counsel to make a final statement during trials, which is currently held by the prosecution, Mr. Tornaritis said that based on relevant studies, this right is found in most EU countries, while in the UK it has existed since 1964. "We believe that it is a proposal that is within reason and we will vote for it," he added.
Regarding the law on volunteer firefighters, he said that it will be in plenary next Thursday.He concluded by referring to the issue of 300 contracted border guards, "responsible for the problem of illegal immigration and its instrumentalisation by Turkey and the occupation regime."
"It is true that the problem is too big."
"It is true that the problem is too big. With full respect for both human suffering and human misery, we have to take measures in a coordinated and harmonised manner with the measures in force in the other EU member states," he said.
"We demand the full support of the Union because Cyprus is the first host state," he stressed, adding that although this measure is not expected to fully solve the problem, a start must be made somewhere.Asked whether a majority is expected in the plenary session, Tornaritis answered in the affirmative, despite the objections expressed by parties such as AKEL.
For his part, Mr. Damianou said that "when you govern for almost 10 years and basically declare failure in managing migratory flows, solutions are not given with hasty half-measures, which may expose the Republic of Cyprus and make it difficult to manage even our national problem, putting us in a head-on conflict even with the UN and the UNHCR."
"Many things should have been done in the past, instead the government winked positively at the EU while the latter denied solidarity with the Republic of Cyprus," he added, adding that AKEL will evaluate the data and will position itself accordingly on the bill on the "unfortunate so-called border guards", while noting that no response has been received to the party's repeated appeals to the Ministry and the Legal Service for an opinion on the legality of the measure.
Source: CNA
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