Mice, toilets that do not work, washrooms with no tap water, windows that do not open, broken chairs, flooding, water leaks and court papers piled up against damp walls.
This is the current state of many of the country’s courts after the introduction of the new ‘judicial map’ that was supposed to reinvigorate the judicial system and speed up the processing of a mountain of cases.
The problems worsened since the September 1st launch of Citius, the key part of the new judicial system, but the infrastructure is lagging far behind, according to a damning report sent today to the president, parliament and the workplace conditions authority by the powerful Syndicate of Portuguese Judges, the ASJP.
‘Courts are being expected to function correctly despite a lack of even minimum standards of hygiene and safety,’ claims the report’s authors, and that the ‘implementation the new judicial map has aggravated the problems and has created new ones.’
The exasperated judges are calling for some immediate action from the Justice Ministry which launched the new judicial system without proper financial planning in an ill-timed effort that saw the Citus computer system launched only to crash and shut down the courts for six weeks.
Many buildings that were meant to be refurbished still have workmen hammering away and the court in Faro is still expected to operate from a linked series of temporary Portakabins on the northern fringes of the city.
Lagos is singled out in the Algarve along with some northern courts including the Palácio da Justiça in Oporto and the courts in Beja and Braga.
The ASJP report is accompanied by photos showing judges working in cramped offices, a lack of security in the building, rooms full of case paperwork without any provision for secure storage, no air-conditioning to remove damp air or heat and cool rooms, evidence of damp, decrepit toilets for the use of the public, judges and the court staff, judges having no secure route from their office to the court and having to walk through common areas where witnesses and defendants are waiting.
The judges warn that the courts are operating in violation of safety, hygiene and health standards as regulated by existing labour laws and that judges are operating without the ‘dignity that is required of their position.’
The association claims that there are extremely worrying cases where the safety of judges and court staff clearly is in jeopardy because facilities are damaged, facilities are shared or simply because the judge has no protection.
‘At a time of increased social tension bring more disputes to court, judges’ security must be safeguarded,’ according to the report in which the authors accuse the government of violating UN resolutions and many of the recommendations of the Council of Europe covering court conditions.
This judicial reorganisation has aggravated many of the problems as the number of processes is actually rising. This has put additional pressure on facilities that in many cases are below even sub-standard.
