Nationwide protests against e-justice failures

Lawyers will hold two protests this week following the collapse of the e-justice system.

The first one-hour protest will take place on Wednesday from 10am outside parliament when the House legal affairs committee will be discussing the e-justice system.

Lawyers will also hold a protest between 10:30am and 11:30am outside all district courts.

The Bar Association said on Tuesday it was continuously disappointed by the insurmountable problems linked to the dysfunctionality of the e-justice system. As a result, it will prevent access to justice.

“The situation which has been created for a week now by implementing a system with unreliable procedures which create unpredictable risks dents trust in the institution of justice every single day,” it said. “It affects the functioning of the rule of law.”

The Bar Association decided to request a functional platform for lawyers, court officials and the public to use smoothly. This means both a temporary measure but also a long-term solution for e-justice, it added.

“As long as the quality of justice, which is a basic requirement in a liberal state, is affected, the competent state bodies cannot and must not remain indifferent.”

The e-justice system crashed within a day of its launch last week, taking lawyers back to physical registrations rather than the much touted “transition to the new digital era.”