It was approved by a majority, in principle, by the parliamentary committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice, the draft law of the Ministry of Justice to speed up the staffing and operation procedures of the Judicial Police. ND declared in favor of the principle of the draft law. The opposition parties, with the exception of the KKE which declared from the outset that it would vote against the bill, maintained a reservation for their final stance in the Plenary.

The Judicial Police Corps will be staffed by uniformed and political-scientific personnel. The uniformed section of the Judicial Police will have the main task of guarding the courthouses and courtrooms as well as the execution of criminal judgments and service of documents. The political-scientific staff will provide specialized scientific knowledge, effectively assisting judges and prosecutors in their work.

In the process of hearing bodies that took place earlier today in the Parliament’s committee, Eleftheria Konsta, member of the Union of Judges and Prosecutors, said that the Judicial Police has a role, in addition to guarding, and assisting the project and the prosecutor’s officer as well as the judge . Regarding the civilian staff of the Judicial Police, Ms. Konsta pointed out that among the specialties mentioned in the draft law, the provisions for the specialties of psychologists and child psychologists, which are important for the juvenile services based in the courts and are important specialties in the field of family law.

The deputy general secretary of the Hellenic Prosecutors’ Association, Sophia Diploidou, stated that the Union welcomes this legislative initiative, as it did when the establishment of the judicial police was envisaged. “The establishment of the judicial police was a constant and perennial request of the prosecutors”, said Mrs. Diploidou who, however, underlined the need to share the positions of the police personnel of the judicial police between the Prosecutor’s Office of Appeals and the Prosecutor’s Office of First Instance, given that also in the Prosecutor’s Offices of Appeals there is a need for a police force, due to the prosecutions for the execution of convictions and arrest warrants.

Michalis Mavrogenis, a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Judicial Employees, stated that with the bill the role of ASEP is being degraded, given that the Ministry is given the possibility to announce the tender under the authority of ASEP. “When we asked for the announcement of a competition for 1,000 judicial clerk positions, Mr. Tsiaras answered us that in this way ASEP is bypassed. Here we see that in the competition provided for by the bill there is no direct involvement of ASEP”, said Mr. Mavrogenis and underlined that the filling of organic positions of court employees is “an absolute necessity”, given that there are 3,000 organic vacancies. The representative of the Federation of Court Employees also stated that the competition should be in writing.

The president of the Plenary of Bar Associations Dimitris Vervesos stated that it is a constant request of the bar associations for the functioning of the judicial police. But he expressed severe criticism for the provision of the bill, that the judicial police should be headed by retired judicial officers. “We disagree with retired judicial officers being in charge. A convergence of judicial and executive power is being created which has greatly affected the public sphere. The Hellenic Republic has suffered from such relations. We recently had a complaint from a judicial officer about the confluence of executive and judicial powers. It’s an unfortunate choice. If this is done, they should be at least 3 years away from the day they retired,” said Mr. Vervesos. He also pointed out that there are very few scientific staff positions that will support the work of the judges, while he requested that there be a representative of the Plenary of the bar associations in the judicial police personnel selection committee.

The Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis pointed out that 25 PE administrative-financial positions and 15 administrative-accounting positions have been provided for in the bill. Mr. Floridis said that the civilian staff will provide scientific and technical assistance to judicial and prosecutorial officers on matters that require specialized knowledge. As Mr. Vervesos also raised the issue of settling the claims of the lawyers in the context of legal aid, Mr. Floridis said that full answers will be given and “we will enter the path of definitive resolution of an issue that does not make us proud at all.”

The president of the KO of Free Shipping intervened in the meeting Zoe Konstantopoulou who pointed out that the hearing process is degraded, that the opinions of more organizations should be heard and that they should present their positions in person and not by teleconference. In any case, Mrs. Konstantopoulou emphasized, what would have priority today is to discuss the tragic situation in Thessaly and the disintegration of the state apparatus. Mrs. Konstantopoulou also referred to the great shortage of judicial officers and underlined that the committee should deal with the problems related to the administration of justice.