First instance judge dismissed for delaying decision-making for up to 2.5 years

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Due to long delays in rendering decisions over several years, the 48-member Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber, under the leadership of President Ioanna Clapa-Christodullea and with the participation of Supreme Court Prosecutor Giorgi Adilini, unanimously dismissed the trial judge.

In particular, the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court considered the issue of permanent dismissal of the first judge for incompetence in the performance of judicial duties caused by numerous delays in rendering decisions over a long period of time.

Statute of limitations for offenses

The rapporteur on the issue of judges, Giorgia Katsimagli, said that due to delays in the cities where the first judge worked, there were written and telephone complaints from lawyers and citizens about a large number of pending cases.

In addition, Ms. Catsimagli added that when this judge worked in Piraeus, 59 cases that were overly delayed were taken away from her in order to assign them to colleagues, since there was a risk of the statute of limitations on the crimes expiring, and they were asked to return the cases. However, the cases were not transferred and a complaint was filed against her for misappropriation of documents.

These cases were eventually referred by the former trial judge to her boss, but one case was never returned and she did not respond whether she lost it or not, so the lost case was automatically reinstated.

A similar incident occurred in Heraklion, where she served, because 44 cases were taken from her and again they asked her to return the 25 that she had in her hands, but she did not return them until the day of the disciplinary plenum.

She didn’t transfer the case

At the end of the plenary session, Ms. Klapa, taking her seat, asked the former judge’s lawyer to persuade her to return the 25 cases that were seized from her and which she never handed back.

According to the presiding judge, the chief judge refused to comply with the instructions of the inspectors (she was inspected 7 times) and ignored them due to long delays, and proposed that she be suspended from work on a permanent basis. In fact, according to Ms. Katsimagli, she still has not returned 25 cases that were scheduled for consideration in 2022.

What did she say in her testimony?

The prosecutor said she had a heavy caseload, which, combined with her inexperience and health problems, led to delays in decision-making, and later in the hearing she also cited psychological problems. The following dialogue took place between the Chairman of the Supreme Court and the judge:

Valve: “We were all inexperienced when we came into the court system, we all faced difficulties in the early years, but we asked questions and moved forward and the volume of cases we dealt with was higher than today. We were presented with claims for 300 cases and a period of one month, and every 40 days we reported to our superiors for the progress of cases and the number of completions. But you guys didn’t make the decisions. People have been waiting for your decisions for years.”

Judge: “I respected the citizens, so I did not take sick leave because of my mental state. Finally, I went to a psychologist and overcame my problem. I am responsible to Greek society, but give me one last chance (ed: not to be fired).”

Valve: “You did not realize how many problems you created. The disciplinary authorities made many attempts, but you never corrected yourself. Complete indifference and incompetence. You did not listen to your superiors who begged you to allow the transfer of files, and caused inconvenience to citizens. You have had no sense of responsibility for 11 years. I don’t see you waking up from your slumber as long as you were paid your salary regularly, like the rest of us, causing harm to society.”

Ms Adilini sided with the judge who brought the case for the permanent dismissal of the trial judge, who was eventually unanimously removed from the judiciary but retained the right to work in the public sector as a civil servant.

PS Unfortunately So works majority of Greek civil servants. And removing lazy people from office turns into a huge headache for their leadership.

PPS By the way, the salaries of Greek judges average from 7 to 10 thousand euros per month. 11 years…

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