Media reported on Monday that the deputy attorney-general has instructed police to alter the procedure of petitioning courts to approve arrest or search warrants in criminal cases, after at least four such warrants were voided due to faulty paperwork.

According to Phileleftheros, since the beginning of the year the Supreme Court has voided four warrants that had previously been issued by district courts.

Attorneys for the suspects against whom these warrants were issued, spotted a key omission on the warrants. They challenged the warrants at the Supreme Court, which then voided the warrants.

The cock-up has to do with a field on the standard request form for a warrant that police submit to district court judges.

The field in question, which is filled out by a district court judge, reads: “I am satisfied/not satisfied”.

This is where a judge states whether he or she deems the request for a warrant as justified or not. The judge also has to sign the warrant request form.

Under the current procedure, a judge has to cross out one of the options. For example, where a judge does not approve of the request for a warrant, they must cross out the part that reads “I am satisfied.”

What had happened in the four cases is that the judges signed off on the warrant request form, but forgot or omitted to cross out one of the options in this field.

This was a key omission, as the relevant law states that judges must explicitly indicate their preference on warrant request forms. Otherwise the warrant, even when signed by a judge, is legally void.

One of the warrants voided by the Supreme Court had to do with a police cadet arrested in February this year. The cadet was a suspect in a narcotics case.

The daily said that, due to the seriousness of the case, the police chief decided to sack the cadet in question two days later.

However in March the suspect’s attorneys challenged the arrest warrant, pointing out that the district court judge had not indicated his preference on the warrant request form, rendering it null and void. The Supreme Court ruled in the suspect’s favour.

The matter came to the attention of deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides, who wrote to the police instructing them how to handle this matter going forward.

In the letter, obtained by Phileleftheros, Angelides asked police to change the wording on warrant request forms.

From now on, the relevant field will read: “I have been satisfied” – meaning satisfied with the reasons for which the police request an arrest and/or search warrant.

If the judge is not satisfied, he or she must add the word “Not” at the start of the sentence.

Moreover, the police are advised to check that a judge has properly signed the warrant and indicated the time and date.
In a statement on Monday, the Greens spoke of “scandalous omissions” in the handling of criminal cases.

The party said that the reveal about how arrest warrants are handled “causes deep concern and raises serious questions about the quality and credibility of the dispensation of justice”.

The Greens called on officials to give clear answers on the matter and also to explain who was responsible and what corrective action has been taken.