Ombudsman criticises courts' sluggishness

Brno, March 14 (CTK) – The situation in the Czech judiciary threatens people's right to just court proceedings, since courts decide too slowly, mainly in civilian, guardianship, distraint and insolvency proceedings, Ombudsman Pavel Varvarovsky told journalists today.

The problem rests in an uneven filling of courts' personnel capacities, rather than a shortage of judges, Varvarovsky said.

Unlike the number of judges, the number of court reporters, senior clerks and assistants is low, which has a negative impact, he said.

The budget cuts the government made for austerity reasons in the past two years have afflicted the court administration workers, Varvarovsky continued.

"The state may have saved money on wages, but subsequently it has to pay out the same sum in compensations for protractions in court proceedings," Varvarovsky says in a press release.

In addition, those who claim compensation and their request is rejected by the Justice Ministry, turn to courts with their claim, which means an additional burden for the courts, Varvarovsky said.

The compensation for a one-year delay may reach 10,000 to 20,000 crowns, depending on the case and the activeness of the sides involved.

The state pays out an annual 40 million crowns in compensations.

Mechanisms enabling to correct the situation have been failing. People can complain about delays in proceedings with the court chairperson and propose that deadlines be set in this respect. However, this measure helps correct only the most striking delays, Varvarovsky said.

Moreover, in such a situation the court prefers handling the case in question at the cost of other cases that become delayed as a result. Such method is unconstitutional and unethical, Varvarovsky said.

He also said he has uncovered serious managerial mistakes in the court system management. For example, there is no document to assess how individual courts are burdened with new and old cases and to distribute the number of judges among individual courts accordingly.

The system also shows shortcomings in situations such as judges' departures for parental leave. The state does not enable the court chairperson to find a replacement for a judge on parental leave. "The court is left paralysed for the relevant period and its decision making slows down," Petr Polak said on behalf of the Ombudsman's Office.