CoE Justice Head Leyenberger to EuroFora : Fight Corruption + Help Victims + Economies = Efficiency

*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- Judges' active contribution to the fight against Corruption and to Help Victims of Crimes, certainly is a core part of the "Efficiency and Quality of Justice", that CoE's PanEuropean Organization for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, in cooperation with the EU, is regularly Monitoring, including by a landmark Comparative Study and critical Analysis with Recommendations on Data systematically collected throughout all 47 Member Countries of the Strasbourg-based body, replied in substance, CoE's Director for the Independence and Efficiency of Justice, Stephane Leyenberger, to "EuroFora"s questions, at the eve of the official Publication of the 2012 Report by the "European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice" (ECEJ), on the occasion of a Ministerial Conference in Austria, tomorrow, due to take stock of the current situation and design new orientations on Courts, Prosecutors and Lawyers for the next 2 Years, in an are covering more than 800 Millions Citizens. (See selected CoE's Justice Statistics Infra).
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 - "EuroFora" asked in substance CoE's competent Director to assess the importance  it has today for Justice's Efficiency to help Victims of Crime and/or the Fight against Corruption, (as f.ex., EU recently started to do : See EU Commission vice-President, Viviane Reding's and EU Parliament's Rapporteurs' replies to "EuroFora"s questions last week : ......, and as certain famous Judges did in Italy in the Past, or could and, obviously, should do now in Greece, etc).

+ As well as if some Economies that States are obliged to make today in order to face the Global Financial Crisis, could, eventually, be made in an adequate way, which wouldn't affect Justice Efficiency, (f.ex. thanks to New Technologies, a.o. organisational innovatons, etc), given that the Number and Salaries of Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers doesn't always seem automatically helpful to Justice's Quality, as we observed.

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Anti-Corruption Fight and Help to Victims of Crime = part of Justice's Efficiency + Quality
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    - "Certainly, when we speak about Justice's Quality, if Corruption is a Structural Problem, (in a Country), then it naturally concerns the Efficiency of Justice", Leyenberger positively replied to "EuroFora"s first question.

    - "It's a Delicate issue, that ECEJ didn't yet start to examine, at least for the time being, because it's difficult to measure, and to tackle with our traditional methodology. But this doesn't mean that everything is going well , everywhere, in this regard, far from that...

    - "However, we have, inside the CoE another body, specialized in the Fight against Corruption, the GRECO, which has just started, precisely, a New Stage in its Monitoring Activities, where f.ex. Prosecutors will be at the Focus of CoE's Anti-Corruption watchdog, as he said.

    - "It's true that this matter, about the Fight against Corruption, deserves today to be explored further, and that's what is expected to be done during the next 2 Years, mainly by GRECO, together with our (ECEJ's) input",  as Leyenberger anounced.

    + Concerning Courts' Help to Fight Corruption in a State's Administration, (See "EuroFora"'s main question),- "CoE's Penal Treaty has already asked to Criminalize Corruption as much as possible, and, in this important issue, ECEJ and GRECO naturally have to check that Legislation, and if Courts apply efficiently those Criminal Laws", he observed.

    - "So, there are, indeed, 2 Questions raised in this regard : 1) Risks of Corruption inside a system of Justice itself, (f.ex. if there are attempts to "buy" a Judge's decisions, or the actions of a Prosecutor, of a Registrar, etc), which is a Part of the problem,  and 2) the way that a system of Justice applies the Anti-Corruption Laws", a really Important issue Today, you are absolutey Right", COE's competent Director agreed with "EuroFora".

    => But, for the Judges and Prosecutors to become anew able to play an important role in the Fight against Corruption, as some did in the Past f.ex. in Italy, etc., also now in Greece and other, mainly Central-Eastern European Countries, "this necessiattes also a strong Political support, at first for an adequate Legislation to exist, (f.ex. without Obstacles to Investigations by Tight TIME LIMITS, as PASOK's former Governments had sent in Greece, provoking criticism by various Political Parties, and even GRECO's recent Denonciation, during this Summer 2012), he added.

    - "I'm not a Specialist of this issue, but, (a few years ago) in Italy, there was an Astonishing example, with the "Mani Pulite" ("Clean Hands"), series of Investigations, where it was even a Judge himself who dared brave the beast ("prendre le torreau par les cornes", in the original in French), by his own Initiative", CoE's PanEuropean Top Official reminded, obviously referring to the case of Di Pietro, who is now a MEP in EU Parliament (comp. earlier statements by the famous Italian Liberal MEP to "EuroFora" in relevant previous NewsReports)

    => - "We have to Hope that, Today, something similar might happen anew, f.ex. in Greece and/or other Countries", Leyenberger expressed the wish, wich could easily become very Popular among a large Majority of Greek People, from various Political Origins, obviously revolted, mainly since 2011, by many Years of Corrupted, and/or Irresponsibly abusive and Manipulative Politicians, mainly of former PASOK Governments in the Past 30 years' crucial period of 1981-2011 which notoriously provoked the recently revealed Huge Debt, after a series of first Scandals since the 1980ies, up to and including the 1999-2001 Politico-Financial deal, brokered by former "Socialist" Governments then in Germany, France, Greece, Cyprus,  the UK, Spain, USA, etc., (i.e. - "We close our eyes on Greece's debt in order to enter €uroZone earlier than normal, even before necessary reforms, if Athens closes its eyes on Turkey's controversial and unpopular EU-bid", so that a former PASOK Government could snatch April 2000 Elections and stay in power with less than 1%, up to 2004), on which "EuroFora" has alerady published several NewsReports and Analysis, at the latest since December 2009, etc+).

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+ Economies possible with an Efficient Justice
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    - "Concerning your Other Question, on the Ressources, and, f.ex. the Number of Judges, Lawyers, etc., ECEJ's New (2012) Report confirms, indeed, at least one relevant Observation : - It's, indeed, a Fact that Justice is Slower in Countries with a comparatively Bigger Number of Lawyers", the experienced Leyenberger replied to "EuroFora" with a smile..  (Comp. also concrete Data, infra). We didn't yet establish explicitly a Cause to Effect relation, so, at least for the Time being, ECEJ simply observes the Facts : F.ex. those Southern European States which have the biggest  Numbers of Lawyers, in proportion to their Population, are also those where Judicial proceedings Delay too much", as he pointed out.

     - "We (CoE) must really examine that, in order to know whether we can arrive to the conclusions which seem probable, because that's a constant fact, and it should mean something", Leyenberger carefully added,

    + "Now,  is it possible, while making Financial Economies, to continue, however, to ameliorate the efficiency of a Justice system ?", he resumed "EuroFora"s second question,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
    - What is certain, is that, for a Justice system to be able to function properly, it needs 2 things : Political Will and Material Means. . * it's sure that, without the necessary means, it can't go on as it should", he warned .

    - "But it's not, just because one might have a lot of ressourses that, automatiqualy it will start to function properly".. "This is an Important Element, but alone it can't do anything.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
    - "Nevertheless, this cannot be Inverted : It's simply no true that, when a country has important Resources, then, everything  would certainly  go well", the experienced CoE's Official observed.

     -"That is to say, the Budget is an imprtant element, but it's not enough in order to guarantee Justice's Efficiency : F.ex. there are some Countries which Spend More in Justice, but that we find Less Efficient  than others !" , he revealed.

    - "Because, what counts is also  the way that Procedures are organized ; the way that a specific Court works, the Relations between the main Actors in Criminal Proceedings, etc. So, there are also Other, Important Aspects, which play an important role, etc".,  CoE's Top Officer also added.

    - "So that, by adequately "Tuning" those elements, we could be able, even with a Stable Budget, to ameliorate Justice's Efficiency", Leyenberger ambitiously stressed.

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EU/CoE "Crystal Balance"'s initiatives on Justice
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    - "On this occasion, ECEJ organizes, together with EU Commission, an Award called "Crystal Balance" (of Justice), which rewards Positive Initiatives, often set up by Courts themselves, in order to restor and/or ameliorate the way Justice works", he reminded.

    - "In this framework, we see a lot of various, concrete Initiatives, which prove that, sometimes, with a dose of Voluntarism, of Intelligence, and, mainly, with a genuine Concern to serve People well, f.ex. Victims of Crimes, etc., then, Juctice's Efficiency can really be ameliorated", CoE's c ompetent Director optilmistically pointed out.

    - "I can't reveal you the 2012 Winners, who will be anounced on October 25, the European Day for Justice, but I can already tell you that, when the "Crystal Balance"'s jury met last week in Brussels, (bringing together CoE and EU Officials), we studied 38 different Projects, of which about 10 were very Interesting , so that, among the 4 selected for the award, there are, indeed, some very interesting Initiatives, really able to ameliorate the way Justice works, f.ex., an idea to settle, by using Internet, even SMS, the small cases which often overload the Courts, concerning many tiny Debts of only a few Tens or Hundreds of €, i.e. by avoiding Hearings, convocations to appear in front of a Judge, etc., thanks to an adequate use of New Technologies of Information", Leyenberger anounced.

    - "But, naturally, serious Criminal cases, important Commercial affairs, or Civil Law cases where Childrens' and/or Families' fate is at stake, or affect a Person's Financial situation, etc.,  should not avoid a Regular, proper and full Procedure", he warned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
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ECEJ's 2012 Report's main related Facts :
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ECEJ's 2012 latest Report, which has just been published, reveals, indeed, several interesting Facts related to both these two Questions, (in fact interrelated in real practice), raised by "EuroFora" (comp. Supra) :

     - Almost all CoE's Member State declare that they have a "Free of Charge, Specific System to Inform and Help Victims of Crimes", as well as Special Rules for the "Protection of Vulnerable Persons", concerning mainly Hearings, but also Information, etc., and its' only a few that don't share a Widespread belief (in 40 Countries against 8) that "Prosecutors have a Specific Role  in Protecting the Rights or Assisting the Victims of Crimes", while only 9 disagree with an overwhelming Majority of 34 Countries which recognize Victims' "Right to Dispute a Prosecutor's decision to Discontinue a case", (to which are added another 5 Countries where Prosecutors even can't stop proceedings without a Judge's decision, that Victims of Criem can challenge, f.ex. in Spain, etc).
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    Concerning the "assessment of users' satisfaction" and "Public Confidence" to Justice systems, , ECEJ welcomes a recent trend to make Surveys in most CoE Member Countries, particularly when they are open to all, (f.ex. in Germany, Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc), or to  both Courts' Clients and Professionals, (as, f.ex., in the UK, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Norway, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Switzerland, Romania, Hungary, etc), and at least to all Clients of the Courts (f.ex. in France, Finland, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Estonia, etc), but criticizes Restrictions of Surveys only to Professionals (p.ex. in Portugal, etc), particularly when it's only ... the Judges and Prosecutors themselves who are alone to be allowed to asses their own work, (as, f.ex. in Turkey, etc), pinpointing also against those few States which don't even make any Satisfaction survey, (as, f.ex. Bosnia, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovakia, Cyprus, Albania, etc). But, here, CoE's Study also "regrets" the fact that Crimes' Victims are not consulted by Governments often enough on Courts' situation ....
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Meanwhile, most Sanctions and/or Disciplinary proceedings vis a vis Judges and/or Prosecutors, throughout CoE's Member Countries, were for "Professional Inadequacy", followed by cases of "Ethics"' violations, and various "Crimes", according  to ECEJ's latest Report.

But, despite CoE's initial Questionaire's demand to give "Special" information in case of Sanctions for "Corruption" among Judges and/or Prosecutors, "taking into account the reports" by CoE's Anti-Corruption Watchdog known as "GRECO", and by NGO "Transparency International", nevertheless, the data provided don't appear yet in the Final ECEJ's 2012 Report, at least for the time being..

 It's only a Few Countries who didn't report any Sanctions at all against Judges, -including f.ex. Iceland, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Cyprus, which has no more to show also on Prosecutors, despite ECHR's condemnations and strong criticism in Society in cases such as the Death of a Foreign Young Girl just after she denounced her Employer's alleged attempt to oblige her to submit to Prostitution in his Bar (Rantseva affair), the refusal to protect some poor Ukranian Sailors suddenly abandoned without warning by a Foreign Ship Owner without even paying their salaries, criticized  refusals to initiate criminal proceedings for Inhuman/Degrading Treatments allegedly faced by some persons held by the Police, various complaints by Refugees/IDPs and/or "Missing" Persons' Families for alleged negligene or rather unwilingness to energetically defend their cases at the ECHR, controversial refusals to protect some Journalists allegedly facing repeated abuses, nor to initiate proceedings agaist some High-Ranking Political Authorities, etc.

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ECEJ : ECHR cases reveal ..129 violations by Turkey of the Human Right to a "Fair Trial" in just one Year (2010) !
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+ In the most grave affairs, ECHR's condemnations for Violating the Human Right to a "Fair Trial" reached a Record High of ..83  Condemnations for Turkey (and 46 "Settlements" recognizing a violation,, i.e. a Total of  ..129 attested Violations !), in just one Year considered by ECEJ's latest Report (2010), followed by Ukraine as a distant second wih 59 condemnations (+ only 6 Settlements), Italy with 50, Romania with 46, Greece with 33, Slovakia with 30 violations (but also .. 44 "Settlements"), until down to Germany with just 18, Hungary with 13 (+ ..32 "Settlements"), Portugal with 10, FYROM with 9 Condemnations (and ..31 "Settlements"), etc., generally in far less serious cases.
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Concerning "Criminal Law" cases, the by far greatest Number of serious affairs "Pending" at the Highest Courts, exists in Turkey : ....364500 cases (often of Jailed People, etc), followed, far away, by Italy : 29381 cases (comparatively less serious), and later Romania : 3684 cases,  France : 2682 cases, Spain : 2134,  Croatia : 2122, Albania : 2016,  Bosnia : 704, Poland : 669, Belgium : 647, Ukraine : 498, etc.
Turkey had also the Greatest Number of "Criminal" cases among CoE's 48 Member Countries : 1.827.336, compared to 1.607.646 for Italy (less severe cases), 1.336.505 for Spain, 1.181.995 for Germany, 1.111.772 for Poland, 1.061.097 for France, 441.911 for the Netherlands, 383.565 for Croatia, 200.279 for Ukraine, 195.817 for Switzerland, 171.480 for Romania, etc., and much Less for all Other Countries. 

 
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+ Economy : F.ex. Greece (in the Past) : More Money for Salaries, less for IT Investment ?!  => Record long Delays...
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On the Economic front, Astonishingly, indebted Greece used to pay more Salaries to the Staff in State's Justice services : almost 600 Millions € (597+, even if wasn't all distributed after the 2010 Crisis), i.e. much more than Portugal : 429+ and Austria : 369 Millions €, Sweden : almost 300, Hungary : 209, Chech Republic : 200, Romania : 181, Finland : 184, Denmark : 148, Ukraine : 146, Croatia : 145, Norway : 131+, Slovenia : 126, Scotland and Northern Ireland (UK) : not even 100,  Serbia : 93, Bulgaria : 76, Ireland : nearly 53, Lithuania  : 34, and other comparable Countries, (in 2010 data).

On the contrary, f.ex. the Past Greek Governments (mainly of PASOK) didn't invest in "Computerisation" of the Justice system, but only ... 300 Thousands € (!), compared to more than 17 Millions € by Denmark, 13 Millions € by Sweden, almost 12 Millions by Finland, 11,6 Millions € by Croatia, 10,5 Millions € by Portugal,  7,5 Millions by Hungary and Czech Republic, 5,4 Millions € by Ireland, 1,8 Millions by Latvia, 1,3 Millions by Malta, 779 Thousands € by Lithuania, 650 Thousands by Moldova, 322 Thousands by Bulgaria, etc....

Indeed, the Past "Greek" Governments (mainly PASOK+) used to pay more Money for Salaries to State Agents (+ 92,6% notes CoE !) than to investments in Justice (f.ex. Computers, Buildings, Training/Education, etc). This fact exceptionaly assimilated "Greece" to .. Turkey, (where State Courts' Staff Salaries augmented almost at a similar pace). On the contrary, in Scotland (UK) the ratio was extremely opposite : Only 36%...

Moreover, Greece (and Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, etc., who seem even worse) had hired more Administrative Staff per Judge (3,3), than Austria and Hungary : 3,1, France and Russia : 3,0, Turkey : 2,8, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Armenia  : 2,7, the Netherlands : 2,6,  Finland : 2,4, Romania : 2,1, Albania ; 2,1, Norway : 1,5, Luxembourg : 1,1, etc.

This is added to the fact that Greece has also the Biggest Number of Judges, compared to the Population (per 100.000 inhabitants) among most "Western" Countries, and even from some "Eastern" Countries, i.e. =  18 Judges, while even Switzerland and Belgium have only 14,5 and 14,8 ;  Albania, Norway and Sweden : 11,7, 11,2 and 11,5; Italy : 11 ;  France : 10,7 ;   Turkey : 10,6 ;  Spain : 10,2, ;  Denmark : 9 ; Armenia and Azerbaidjan ; 6,7 ; Georgia ; 5,2 ; (etc ).

Only in the rare case of Germany (24,3), and of several "Eastern" Countries (who, generally, have more Judges than all the others : f.ex. Poland : 27,8 ; Russia : 22,6 ; Ukraine and Romania ; 19,3 and 19 ; etc.) it's exceptionaly otherwise.            

                                   
Even the Number of Prosecutors, (despite the fact that it's less than the average among all 48 CoE Countries), nevertheless, it's Bigger in Greece, compared to the Population, than in many other European Countries  : 4,8 per 100.000 inhabitats, while the Netherlands have only 4,7 ; Ireland and Austria have only 4,2 and 4,1 ; Italy only 3,3 ; France, Andorra and San Marino just 3 ; (etc).

But Greece is one among the Few Countries (only 9 out of 48, as, f.ex. Cyprus, Portugal, Belgium, etc) which asks from Citizens to also pay Fees or Taxes in order to have access even to Criminal Justice, while, on the contrary, in 39 other CoE Member Countries, this remains Free of charge.

The Biggest Number of Lawyers (per 100.000 inhabitants) in all CoE's 48 Countries exists also in ...Greece : 369 ! (with the only pseudo-"exception" of the "special" case of  Luxembourg : 371, where is, however, located the EU Court of Justice), while, f.ex., Italy has just 349, Spain 272, Portugal 259,  Belgium 152, Switzerland 128, Serbia 110, Norway 104, the Netherlands 100, Turkey 96, Austria 89, Slovakia 83, France only 79, Poland 77, Slovenia 63, Monaco 69, Latvia 61, Sweden 53, Lithuania 51, Moldova 47, Russia 46, Finland 35, Armenia 34, and Azerbaijan ... 8,  etc.
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=> Nevertheless, all this doesn't help at all Greece to, at least, provide Justice Fast enough, since, on the contrary, Athens holds a PanEuropean Record High of Time Delays in Courts, for Non-Criminal cases (Civil, Commercial, and Administrative Law), with an average of ... 510 Days ! (only Bosnia and Cyprus delay more, with 666 and 564 Days), compared to 417 in Portugal, 393 in Italy, 327 in Croatia, 303 in Spain, 272 Days  in France, 258 in Serbia, 240 in Germany, 238 in Slovakia, 216 in Romania, 198 in Luxemburg, 187 in Turkey,  113 in Bulgaria, 74 in Austria, 58 in Georgia, 56 in Hungary,  55 in Ukraine, 35 in Azerbaijan, and just .. "13"Days  in Russia, etc...

Leyenberger's observations (comp. Supra), proved here quite right !
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(NDLR : "DraftNews", as already sent earlier to "EuroFora"s Subscribers/Donors. A more accurate, full Final Version may be published asap).

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