Problem of delayed justice will be better in four to five years, officials say

The backlog of court cases is expected to improve within four to five years, once relevant legislative reforms have been implemented, President of the Supreme Court, Antonis Latsios, said on Friday.

This position was echoed by Speaker of the House, Annita Demetriou, who said in a statement following a meeting with Latsios that Parliament has already moved forward with the legislative and constitutional regulation necessary for justice to be made effective and immediate.

“Together we must win this great bet, this great modernisation that the justice sector needs,” Demetriou said.

This is the first time that an official visit of the President of Parliament to the Supreme Court has taken place, and Demetriou offered assurances that Parliament and the Supreme Court will continue to cooperate closely on this issue.

Demetriou also expressed certainty that the implementation will proceed correctly and as planned, saying that gaps in the judicial system have been closed to enable faster adjudication of citizens’ cases.

Speaking about root causes of the delays, Latsios said the reform was initiated to fix delays, and that the Cyprus judicial system “has no other problem, neither [of] quality nor corruption,” noting that the problem of the case backlog arose from various factors, including, but not limited to problems with the Courts.