Report, Ioanna Mandrou

The upcoming regulations of the government for broad changes in criminal justice and the new judicial map of the country being prepared by the Ministry of Justice, were the main issues that occupied the General Assembly of the Association of Judges and Prosecutors held at the Court of Appeal of Athens.

From the side of the representatives of the judiciary but also of the leadership of the judiciary represented by President of the Supreme Court Ioanna Klapas and Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Georgia Adelini was expressed in key points, agreement on the need for justice reforms, aimed at speeding up, while everyone noted the country’s dismal record of being 147th in the world ranking on delays in the administration of justice.
Speaking to judges and prosecutors the Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis he referred to the necessity of the changes, to the political will of the government to proceed with the reforms, but also to his intention for dialogue and consent with all the bodies of justice, judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
Mr. Floridis also referred to the satisfaction of the judiciary’s requests by the government, while he did not fail to speak in harsh language about legislative choices of the past, implying the criminal codes passed in 2019, leaving spikes for the participation of representatives of large law firms in the legislative committees that legislated, as he said, for their clients.
Regarding the upcoming changes to the judicial map of the country, Mr. Floridis emphasized that all the proposals of the World Bank, a special committee of the ministry and others are being studied, before the government decides to legislate.

Furthermore, Mr. Floridis referred to the delays in the awarding of Justice, pointing out that our country ranks 147th in the world in terms of delays, something that has turned on a “red light” for foreign investors who first look at whether there is political stability in a country and how justice works. 147 is not a simple number, it is something that concerns all of us and the future of our children, added Mr. Floridis.

From the side of President of the Association of Judges and Prosecutors, Margarita Steniotireferring to a possible abolition under the new judicial map, courts of first instance and courts of appeal, expressed her objection noting that “something like this is not appropriate in an island country”.
For the possibility that justice reforms would include the integration of justices of the peace in criminal and civil justice, Mrs. Stenioti, counter-suggested that there should be unification of justices of the peace throughout the territory.
“We consider, he stressed, necessary for the orderly functioning of justice to maintain the Peace Courts. We propose multi-functional metropolitan magistrates’ courts, an increase in judicial allowances – which we achieved through negotiation with all six judicial associations – the autonomy of the courts and the redistribution of organic positions”

In closing, Mrs. Stenioti did not fail to emphasize that the executive power treats justice as the poor relative and it is necessary in the next constitutional review to establish the financial independence of justice and an independent financial budget.

THE President of the Supreme Court, Ioanna Klapaspeaking to the judges, he emphasized the necessity of a broad reform in the judiciary, while he called on the judges to assume – and they – their responsibilities for the state of the judicial system, underlining that “self-awareness and self-improvement” is needed.

Referring to the imminent change of the judicial map of the country, Mrs. Klapa said that there is a disproportionate distribution of work between the courts and the current judicial map does not correspond to today’s needs, as many times it is not possible even to operate a court due to the absence of judges. And he added that the upcoming changes require an exchange of views of all stakeholders.
From her side the prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Georgia Adelini, characterized some of the proposed regulations of the Ministry of Justice as serious cuts, while he was also in favor of the new provisions for abolishing multi-member compositions in the courts of the first and second instance.
With regard to the integration and inclusion of the Justices of the Peace in criminal and civil justice, he expressed serious reservations and emphasized that any change for a new judicial charter requires consents.

At the same time, Mrs. Adeilini expressed the opinion that there should be a broad decriminalization of minor offenses in order to reduce the huge volume of criminal cases. At the same time, she described as positive the reinstatement of the ex officio prosecution for the crime of infidelity of bank executives and recalled the successive appeals brought by her predecessor, the former Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Vasilios Pliotas, on this issue, which did not succeed.

The president of the Athens Bar Association, Dimitris Vervesosbegan the greeting, saying, that

“It is a shame that the Minister of Finance is talking about a ruling Justice”, while he expressed objections to the abolition of judicial units throughout the territory.

Referring to the amendments to the Criminal Code, which provide for a part of the sentence to be served in sentences of more than a year, Mr. Vervesos stated that it is
violation of the presumption of innocence, going to prison without a final conviction.

In closing, the president of the DSA, wondered “for how long will we be held hostage to the view that the tightening of penalties is the Lydian stone for the solution of justice problems. We have reached the extreme limits of the penalties. And what changed? Did the femicides, fan violence stop? or youth violence?’

Finally, the work of the EDE general assembly was welcomed by the vice-president of the Parliament George Georgantas, representatives of the parties and judicial associations.