The Nationalist Party said Monday that it is backing calls for the holding of virtual court sittings as a way of getting activity going again and averting public fears because of COVID-19.

The shadow minister for justice, Jason Azzopardi, speaking at a press conference, referred to the legal maxim 'Justice delayed is justice denied'.

The courts were an essential service and the government had a duty to ensure that justice was administered efficiently and effectively, he said. 

But at present, thousands of people and businesses were being denied efficiency because hardly any sittings had been held since mid-March. While the reason for the suspension of sittings owing to COVID-19 was justified, it was unacceptable that the government had since done nothing about the situation.

Several other countries had introduced online sittings, Azzopardi said. The PN was therefore backing a proposal, also made by the Chamber of Advocates, for virtual sittings. It was immediately ready to hold talks with the government, the chamber and other interested bodies on the legal amendments necessary for such sittings to be held.  

Beppe Fenech Adami, shadow minister for home affairs, also expressed his concern about the current situation, pointing out that cases over domestic issues such as non-payment of child maintenance and cases of parental access to children were among the cases affected,

It is a situation, he said, which is creating tension in many families,

The press conference was also addressed by Nationalist MP Ivan J Bartolo who observed that courts around the world had adopted digital systems to be able to resume their activity.

  

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.