The cabinet adopted on Thursday a bill to change the Constitution in order to allow for the appointment of judges with a fixed five-year term as a means of tackling the backlog of pending court cases, Justice Minister Lovro Sturm told the press.
According to Sturm, the change has been proposed in order to secure the right to trial in a reasonable time. He stressed that this was not attempt to introduce probationary employment periods for judges since the government opposed this concept.
The fixed-term judicial appointments would be an exception to the rule, to be used only if the right to trial in a reasonable time cannot be guaranteed otherwise, according to the bill.
To safeguard judicial independence, the bill also stipulates that these judges would get priority if bidding to get permanent tenure. They would enjoy this right for three years after the expiry of their five-year term.
Until they find new employment or retire the judges in question would furthermore be entitled to compensation in the form of monthly payments equal to their salary during the service. They would be entitled to the payments for a maximum of one year.
The proposal also preserves the constitutional principle under which judges are elected by the National Assembly at the proposal of the Judicial Council.
Sturm announced that the backlogs could be eradicated by 2010 and that this would require 125 judges with a fixed five-year term who would be appointed under the same criteria as judges with permanent tenure.
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