Colombia’s high courts will come with their own proposal for a pending judicial reform after the government’s attempt to upgrade the country’s clogged judiciary failed last year, reported newspaper El Tiempo.
The draft will be presented in a weeks time to a committee in which several institutions of the country’s judicial branch are represented.
According to El Tiempo, one of the main points on the agenda will be ways to remove obstacles to civilians in their access to justice while curbing the clogging of the present system.
The proposal will be an alternative than that of the government, who had sent Justice Minister Alfonso Gomez to the Inter-institutional Committee for the Judicial Branch to present the government’s ideas on how the justice system should be reformed in order to lower impunity levels and waiting lists.
House Representative German Navas (Democratic Pole) told pulzo.com that the courts’ judicial reform seeks “justice for the citizen to be faster, as previous reforms have served the interests of Congress, the executive and judges.”
Included in the high courts’ own proposals are the appointment process for Disciplinary Chamber judges as well as suggesting that judicial council leaders be relocated to their respective state.
The judicial reform process has been a long and frictional process between President Juan Manuel Santos and the judiciary.
The issue has been laying dormant in the halls of congress since 2012 when Santos was forced to reject his own bill due to controversial amendments made by Congress giving themselves immunity from imprisonment.
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This latest proposal comes after Santos’ comments made in October to halt the “deterioration of justice” in Colombia, sparked by a bribery scandal concerning High Court Judge Henry Villarraga.
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Sources
- Altas cortes presentarán su propia reforma a la justicia (W Radio)
- Santos’ Justice Reforms Shelved Amid Popular Indignation (Justice For Colombia)
- Magistrados de altas cortes presentarán su propio proyecto de reforma a la justicia (puzo.com)
