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Hundreds of disgruntled judges and members of the Supreme Judicial Council, pointing out serious problems with the new judicial information system, have been singled out as enemies of the state. The latest batch of allegations and suggestions was presented at the SJC plenary session on Monday.
“The possible suspension of the implementation of the Unified Court Information System (UISC) will deal a serious blow to the reputation of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the state,” said Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev. He recalled that on September 23 the report of the European Commission on the rule of law for Bulgaria will be published, which will probably touch on the subject.
The Union of Judges of Bulgaria was the first to warn about the problems of the Unified Judicial Information System (UISC) in an open letter on August 27. The organization has indicated to judicial personnel that throughout the country “enormous dissatisfaction” with the serious deficiencies of the system developed by the state enterprise “Information ServicesThe cost of the project is around BGN 6 million, and funding is European Operational Program “Good Governance”.
“Both judges and non-UBB members express unequivocal dissatisfaction with the recently introduced Unified Court Information System (UISC) and find this software product worse than it is now.”, warned the Union of Judges.
The Attorney General’s concerns in the European Commission report are justified. The Sofia authorities expect serious criticism for the continued lack of convictions for corruption at the top, problems with freedom of the media and the inaccessibility of the attorney general. Added to this is the lack of online justice, although the EU finances the entire process.
Due to the ongoing civil protests in Sofia, the European Commission has come under pressure from the European Parliament and some influential Western member states to honestly cover the situation in Bulgaria.
Too much time that we don’t have
The judges say the new information system requires a valuable amount of time to administer trials and record court documents. The program works with many very unnecessary steps that are solved much better in current systems. The magistrates say they simply will not be able to handle the large number of cases under this system. The manual for working with the program has a volume of approximately 2000 pages.
A few days after the UBB’s appointment, more than 130 judges of the Sofia District Court announced that Boycott the system and it will not work with it if implemented without troubleshooting. If the magistrates carry out their threat, this block the work of the largest court in the countrywhich handles hundreds of thousands of cases a year. However, the SJC has been aware of the discontent of the judges for several months.
In July, the SJC decided to start implementing a web-based information system to avoid the return of European money.
Now the president of the Supreme Court of Cassation Lozan Panov demanded that the implementation of the system be postponed in the Supreme Court of Cassation due to problems, which would mainly affect the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. The SJC plenary still does not know how to react and it was decided to discuss the issue again on Wednesday.
What is not discussed with the judges …
The biggest problem is the attitude of the staff towards the incumbent judges, who actively warn about existing problems. In an interview with the Delyan Peevski-linked Legal World website, Veronika Imova, a member of the judging panel (part of the SJC at the suggestion of GERB), who is one of the coordinators of the project, praised the qualities of the system.
She explains that anyone who hasn’t read about 2000 pages of material on the show, is incompetent and cannot reasonably criticize. The very description of the system’s functionalities is Located in 700 pages.
“I do not believe that seasoned court administrators and trained administrations succumb to attempts at confusion and pessimism, waving demotivating slogans, including halting implementation or eliminating the use of qualified electronic signatures. Officers and judges must not be misled or misled. .Imova told Legal World. She said there were people in the SJC who were pursuing ambitions for power and therefore using resentment against software.
Veronika Imova does not mention the fact that the SJC has not yet purchased the computers necessary to allow the new system to operate relatively quickly in all courts. Therefore, the work processes of magistrates and employees with older machines are in serious cycle.
According to the contract, the implementation of the system and the training of judges and court staff must be completed by September 18. At the end of the year, the SJC should start and Single portal for online justice, allow citizens access to all cases.
Although the scandal affects the information system of the courts,The main leader of the project is Prosecutor – Gergana Mutafova of the SJC Fiscal Board. Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev is also an unavoidable participant in the debate. He argues that the system should be started and then improved as it goes.
Serious image damage
Ivan Geshev’s statement to the SJC shows concern mainly about the EC report:
“From what I know of the contract, there is no obstacle after the implementation of the system to draw up a statement of findings, which will reflect all comments and the developer to eliminate all shortcomings. But the Judicial College must come together first, as the price should not be a system shutdown. I say again – this will be serious damage to the image about our country and in particular about the SJC. If anyone points to this, they should say so. “
At the beginning of the year, Ivan Geshev attacked Lozan Panov head on over a similar issue. So Panov was found guilty, he did not ask for the elimination of the problems of the system for the distribution of cases in the courts. Now Geshev has found Panov guilty of wanting the information system not to be implemented until the problems are resolved.
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