Nearly 25,000 court cases delayed for over two years

The president of the Supreme Court said Monday a way should have been found to speed up the dispensation of justice, as close to 25,000 cases were delayed for over two years.

“It is the Supreme Court’s priority, and a way should have been found to speed up dispensation of justice yesterday,” Persefoni Panayi told the House finance committee during the presentation of the judiciary’s budget for 2022.

The government has submitted bills hoping to reform the island’s notoriously slow justice system.

They include the establishment of specialised courts, hiring additional judges and digitisation.

“With the reforms and changes already being implemented, justice in Cyprus will not only be dispensed properly and fairly, but within a reasonable time,” she said.

A report prepared by the Supreme Court’s reforms coordinator that was completed last July, found that at the end of 2020, 24,777 cases before district courts had been delayed for over two years.

Civil appeals and legal issues (questions) before the Supreme Court at the end of the year numbered 3,524, while review appeals before the five-bench plenum reached 322. The three-bench court had 753 pending appeals.