Judge

Justice Minister Georgios Florides addressed the legislative initiatives set to be implemented by 2025 during the celebration of the Day of Justice (Dionysios Areopagitis) at the Old Parliament building. Concurrently, a group of lawyers staged a protest against the shortcomings of the ‘new’ judicial charter outside the venue.

The decisions of the Supreme Court - The judges showed their human face to a First Judge who faced repeated serious health problems and yet changed her image radically

Four prominent international organizations representing magistrates have issued a resounding call to action, urging the Council of Europe and the European Union to intervene swiftly in response to alarming threats faced by Bulgarian judges.

The poor performance of the Greek judicial system in administering justice and all that entails for citizens' rights, the economy and investments are, experts stress, directly related to its incomplete digitalization, lagging behind the EU and many other countries.

Bulgarian lawmakers made significant strides with the second reading of constitutional amendments, endorsing a pivotal change in the process of appointing and dismissing the Prosecutor General.

The Greek justice system may have many state officials, judges and lawyers, but fails to work efficiently for society as a whole, according to the EU Justice Scoreboard 2023 of the European Commission. 

When the current president of the Supreme Court, Maria Georgiou, assumed office in June 2021, she immediately ruled that judges who were not doing their jobs properly, to the detriment of citizens and the institution of the judiciary, should be removed.

Judicial Woes

A courtroom in Skopje. Photo: BIRN

Seven years ago, when the ruling SDSM came to power in North Macedonia, one of its pledges for cleaning up corruption and strengthening the rule of law was to implement a judicial vetting process. The aim of this would have been to root out corrupt or inefficient judges.

Maribor – The Maribor Higher Court has quashed the December 2021 ruling sentencing to life in prison Silvo Drevenšek, who pleaded guilty to murdering his former spouse and her parents in front of his four-year-old son on Christmas Eve 2020. The court has made the decision because six instead of five judges ruled on the case.

Bulgarian caretaker Justice Minister Yanaki Stoilov submitted to Parliament an analysis of the specialized courts and prosecution offices and analysis on optimizing the country's judicial structures around the country.