Lawyers in Cyprus held a one-hour protest outside district courts on a Friday to express their dissatisfaction with the problems plaguing the e-justice system, which had failed on its first day of operation. The protest occurred because the e-justice system had been causing work paralysis for two weeks, affecting both the justice delivery system and law firms. Deputy chairman of the Bar Association, Nicolas Tsardellis, spoke about these issues outside the Nicosia district court.
The Deputy Minister of Research, Nicodemos Damianou, mentioned an extension to address the e-justice system issues, but there were doubts about resolving the problems promptly. As a temporary solution, there was a suggestion to revert to the previous i-justice system starting the following Monday. The Bar Association supported this idea, but Tsardellis expressed reservations about its feasibility.
Tsardellis criticized the government’s investment in the justice system, stating that the current approaches were superficial and ineffective. He also mentioned that the e-justice system had serious operational problems from its inception, which remained unresolved. He highlighted the outdated and inadequate facilities at the Nicosia court buildings as indicative of the broader issues within the justice system.
Tsardellis pointed out that the transition to electronic justice had effectively stopped since January 15, after having been in place until January 13. He called for immediate government action to address these issues. Additionally, he warned that if the problems were not resolved, lawyers would continue to take measures, noting that earlier in the week, there had already been a protest outside parliament.
