Supreme Court sacks judge and prosecutor for delays in cases

The Disciplinary Plenum of the Greek Supreme Court dismissed the judge and the prosecutor for “improper performance of their duties” related to numerous delays in the issuance of court decisions.

The Plenum also suspended the presiding judge of the court of first instance for six months for unjustified absence from work.

Since December last year, on similar grounds, a total of 15 judges and prosecutors.

At a meeting on Friday, the 47-member Plenum considered the cases of six judges and prosecutors. In addition to two dismissals and a temporary suspension of work, one case resulted in an acquittal and two other cases were shelved.

The dismissed prosecutor, who is now permanently banned from hiring other public positions, served on the island of Corfu. She managed to accumulate 3010 outstanding cases.

During the course of the investigation, 1,800 of these files were found at her home, 324 were at her friend’s home, and 626 at a second friend’s home. Another 31 were included in other case files. 153 cases together no one knows where. It is reported that the former prosecutor was prosecuted for abuse of power, as well as the seizure and loss of office documents.

The dismissed president of the court of first instance in Athens was initially given a delay of 3.5 months to eliminate the accumulated debt, but she did not cope with the task. The now former judge has 282 pending cases, while complaints of delays continue to come in. She was given the opportunity to continue working in the public sector, but in much lower positions.

The case of yet another prosecutor was referred to a disciplinary plenum due to her unjustified absence from her post on an island in the Aegean, as a result of which the prosecutor was suspended from office for six months.

It is worth noting that in Greece, judges and prosecutors are rather highly paid civil servants who, in addition to high salaries, have significant bonuses, benefits and additional payments, which average up to 9,000 euros per month.

Nevertheless, it is in Greece that the longest terms for the consideration of criminal and civil cases in the European Union (if not in the world) are recorded, about which there are numerous complaints at all levels.

Most likely, these complaints became the reason that the Supreme Court of Greece (Supreme Council of State) took up the issue of the quality of work of judges. Indeed, due to delays in the work of the courts, many cases simply fall apart due to the expiration of the statute of limitations or, which also happens quite often, due to the death of plaintiffs or defendants from old age, and delays in resolving economic disputes literally undermine the business.

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