The Pancyprian Bar Association, in a statement, calls its members to a warning abstention from their duties next Thursday 1/12/2022 from 9:30am. - 11:30am, thereby expressing its opposition to and concern about the multiple and serious implications arising from the Late Cases (Special) Procedure Rules 2022 published last Friday 25 November 2022 by the Supreme Court.
The IDA, the statement said, has always advocated and continues to advocate for the adoption of a package of measures to address the backlog of cases and the slowness in the administration of justice.
The Association, according to the statement, has been at the forefront of judicial reform and made specific recommendations to address the problems in the lower courts. It has been and will remain an advocate for the speedy administration of justice that is required in a constitutional state. It should be understood, he added, that the problem of backlogged cases cannot be dealt with piecemeal on the basis of a philosophy that promotes express solutions that go against basic principles of law, the Constitution, Union law, the European Convention on Human Rights and the principles of Natural Justice, blatantly ignoring the role of lawyers, as co-operators of justice, in the judicial process.
All that is achieved by promoting unilateral solutions is to put unbearable pressure on lawyers, litigants and judges for proceedings to proceed seemingly at a fast pace, thus further inflating the problems in the justice sector and irreparably affecting the rule of law and the Cypriot citizen.
"It is therefore clear that the adjudication of cases and the administration of justice under pressure will inevitably lead to the dismissal of a large number of cases with the feeling of injustice in the civil society intensifying", notes the IDA.
The Association's position, it says, is that the issue of backlogged cases cannot be resolved by applying oppressive regulations but by implementing comprehensive measures, structured adjudication practices while taking parallel measures such as increasing the number of judges, appointment of retired, recorders from the ranks of lawyers, amendment of the Courts Act for referrals to mediation and arbitration, introduction of ODR, recording of transcripts and specialization with proper distribution of cases. These, furiously, are also the recommendations of European institutions that never adopted a piecemeal approach to the problem but instead recommended that the problem of delays should be addressed through a package of measures.
In the framework of the cooperation of the IDA with the Supreme Court, a meeting was held on 7/11/22 with the administrator-coordinator to prepare recommendations for addressing the backlog Mr. In fact, following this meeting, the President of the IDA, Dr. Christos Clerides, in a letter to Mr. Nathaniel, dated 7.7.2007, wrote to Mr. Nathaniel that he would like to prepare a proposal for the preparation of a backlog.
In fact, following this meeting, the President of the IDA, Dr. Christos Clerides, in a letter to Mr. Nathaniel, dated 7.7.2007, wrote to Mr. Nathaniel. 9/11/22 requested that the draft text of these Regulations be sent to the IDA for comments and observations before publication. In addition, the IDA's request for a meeting with both the President of the Supreme Court Mr. Antonis Liatsos and Mr. Stelios Nathaniel is pending.
The Board of the IDA in an extraordinary meeting on Monday 28 November 2022, decided the following.
- Protest rally in Nicosia outside the Supreme Court and in the other districts outside the main entrance of the District Courts during the above hours
- Establishment of a special group of experts for the immediate preparation of a note with amendments to the Rules.
- Preparation of a report by the presidents of the local bar associations on the management of the backlog.
The above measures are taken with a view to the immediate suspension of the said Rules. If there is no response, the IDA reserves the right to escalate the measures with more dynamic mobilizations.
A substantial will to promote actions aimed at a coordinated, comprehensive and effective management of the backlog should be demonstrated by the parties involved.
Finally, the IDA declares that it was and is ready to continue the meaningful dialogue. Under no circumstances, however, should lawyers be seen as the scapegoat in relation to any decisions taken to address the backlog.
It is evident that while a package of measures has been pending since March 2018, in line with the recommendation of the Irish experts, we observe that, instead of a package of measures, the Supreme Court has attempted to "solve" the problems with procedural experiments that have been tried and failed, while substantive measures are constantly postponed. Unfortunately, experience has proven that problems cannot be solved by the practices and procedural institutions of the Supreme Court.
On these major issues, the state cannot remain apathetic, since at the end of the day, the quality of justice, which is a basic component in a favoured state, is seriously affected.
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