Significant reduction in trial time is expected to be achieved with the new tertiary courts envisaged in the court reform bills, according to figures presented to the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee today by Justice and Public Order Minister Stefi Drakou. At the same time, she said that flexibility and the strengthening of the functionality of the highest court and specialisation that will enhance the quality of justice is achieved.
Specifically, according to the Supreme Court figures presented by the Minister, the Supreme Constitutional Court will hear 377 appeals, the High Court a total of 1,591 cases, and the Court of Appeal 3.149, based on statistics relating to cases registered up to 18.4.2022.
As Drakou said, in terms of the projected time to hear cases, currently about 500 civil appeals are handled per year and it is expected that about the same number per year will be handled by the Supreme Court provided for in the bills.
With regard to the review process, the Minister said that about 140 cases per year are currently handled by the Supreme Court and it is expected that the cases will be handled by the Supreme Constitutional Court provided for in the Bills in about two years.
Drakou noted that the Supreme in its letter states that the calculations can in no way be accurate, as unknown factors will come into play, especially with regard to the workload that will be generated on the basis of the new jurisdiction of the new tertiary courts.
"However, through a simple approximation we seem to conclude on the basis of the current data that if 500 cases are heard per year, it means that the time to complete the adjudication will be three years and in the Supreme Constitutional Court two years. Today we know that the time to hear an appeal is up to seven," he said.
And in the Court of Appeal, he added, which will be composed of 16 judges we could estimate about the same length of time to hear about 800 cases a year.
At the same time, the Minister noted that what counts and supports the bills and the structure they propose is that at the same time it achieves the introduction of check and balances that does not exist today, flexibility and strengthening the functionality of the top tier that currently concentrates excessive jurisdictions and tasks, while through specialization it will achieve the enhancement of the quality of justice.
Attorney General said the passing of the bills is constitutional
At the committee meeting, Attorney General George Savvidis responded to concerns expressed by AKEL MPs, about possible unconstitutionality in relation to the creation of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Constitutional Court and the possible influence of the Law of Necessity.
Mr Savvidis reiterated the position of the Legal Service that, in its opinion, the passing of the bills is constitutional on the basis of the Law of Necessity, which continues to exist. He said a very similar issue was recently raised in the Full Bench of the Supreme Court when the constitutionality of the creation of the Administrative Court was challenged. He added that the Plenary of the Supreme Court there held that the creation of the Administrative Courts was constitutional.
At the same time, the Attorney General briefed the Members of the Committee on the initiatives being taken by the Legal Service to further mitigate the problem of judicial delays. Among other things, he said that he has recommended to the Supreme Court ways to simplify the procedure of the Administrative Court of International Protection, as well as the possibility in criminal cases to increase the jurisdiction of one judge to be able to impose a 7-year prison sentence instead of up to 5 years as is currently the case, which will inevitably reduce the number of cases sent for trial to the Courts of Cassation.
He also indicated that he was in consultation with the Supreme Court as to whether the issuance of some warrants, such as search warrants, could be made appealable instead of being challenged by privilege warrants. And appeals, he added, should be heard in a short fixed time. On these recommendations, Mr.Savvidis said that he is awaiting the views of the Supreme Court.
Finally, Mr.Savvidis congratulated the MPs of the Legal Affairs Committee and the parliamentary parties who, during the plenary session on 5 May, voted in favour of the amendment of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus to allow the use of the English language in the Commercial Court and the Maritime Court, which will be established to hear specialised cases. This amendment, he added, is extremely important as it will create the background for attracting serious international investment to the country, as well as help Cyprus to become a centre for dispute resolution.
In his statements after the Commission, its Chairman, DISY MP Nikos Tornaritis expressed the hope "that we all feel the weight of our obligations, that we manage to have in Cyprus as soon as possible a real justice, a justice that is awarded in a short period of time". He added that he believed in the members of the Legal Affairs Committee and expressed confidence that as soon as possible they would achieve this very big goal, not for the parties but for the Cypriot society.
Source: CNA
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