The High Inspector of Justice Office has managed to complete the process of handling the backlog of 2104 complaints and other inherited practice documents, in addition to the inspectors’ daily work of handling complaints filed directly with the HIJ, conducting disciplinary proceedings as well as thematic and institutional inspections.
This considerable fund included unhandled complaints, partially handled ones, or complaints in their initial stages of review, as well as partially investigated cases or unfinished cases by previous bodies – institutions that were responsible for handling complaints against magistrates or which acted as such during the transitional period 2017-2020, until the establishment of the institution of the High Inspector of Justice. From the backlog of complaints handled, it resulted that the incomplete procedures followed by the previous bodies for handling these complaints and other practices, (due to the limited and divided powers between different bodies during the transitional period), was fully completed by the High Inspector of Justice Office.
The three-year progress of handling this backlog of complaints reflects the increase in the number of magistrate and non-magistrate inspectors year after year at the HIJ Office, increasing in this way, the volume of handling backlog complaints, respectively 72 complaints handled in 2020, 427 in 2021, 534 in 2022 and 1047 in 2023.
A special methodology approved and published on the official website of the institution, was used for handling these complains according to a priority order based on criteria such as: filing date, stage of review by previous bodies, typology or urgency of handling the complaint, respecting the principle of equality and objectivity, as well as the time needed for the review and evaluation of each practice.
From the inherited backlog of 2104 complaints, 2080 complaints were archived, 14 complaints are in the process of verification and 10 complaints are in the process of disciplinary investigation.
The High Inspector of Justice has approved 34 decisions for disciplinary investigation, all of which have investigated the alleged violations against the activity of 58 magistrates (58 judges). Out of these 34 disciplinary investigations, 9 concluded with a request for disciplinary proceedings for 9 judges. The disciplinary measures proposed by the High Inspector of Justice were “Dismissal from office” for 3 judges; “Temporary reduction of salary up to 40% for a period no longer than one year” for 5 judges and the disciplinary measure “Public Reprimand” for 1judge.
From the above requests made by the High Inspector of Justice, the High Judicial Council partially accepted the request for “dismissal” for 1 judge, imposing a different disciplinary measure on him, while the other 2 cases were closed without a decision. For the 5 cases when a salary reduction was requested, the High Judicial Council partially accepted 2 of them, while 3 cases were suspended due to the re-evaluation process. For the request of “Public Reprimand” for 1 judge, the HJC decided a suspension due to the re-evaluation process.
By handling this backlog of complaints inherited from other institutions, through the disciplinary proceedings of the magistrates for cases or complaints filed with the inspection bodies many years ago, not only has the HIJ fulfilled a legal obligation, but he has also conveyed an important message to everyone about the culture of impunity and remembrance.