Attorney-general Costas Clerides has expressed his opposition to resorting to draw to resolve a possible deadlock in a future federal court that will be set up in the event of a Cyprus settlement.
Clerides, who was speaking at an event on Thursday evening organised at the University of Cyprus by non-governmental organisation `Oxygono`, said that that would be unacceptable given the particular conditions in Cyprus.
Noting that nothing at the Cyprus negotiations is agreed until everything is agreed, he said that in the event of a Cyprus solution one of the structures that will be set up will be a federal supreme court consisting of eight judges with equal representation of the two communities, four Greek Cypriots and four Turkish Cypriots.
Saying that the problem of a possible deadlock in the decision making process of the court has not been resolved yet, he expressed his strong opposition to the proposal of using a draw.
This is unacceptable given the particular circumstances in Cyprus, he said, stressing that the federal court may well be invited to deal with very serious issues.
There are other proposals to deal with any future deadlock, Clerides said, adding that one of them is to call a European judge to intervene so that the deadlock is overcome.
He also expressed the view that in the event the Cyprus solution is approved by the people in referendums then the solution must have a legal validity.
Giving the referendum on Brexit and the legal issues that followed as an example, he said that the ratification of a Cyprus solution must not be legally vulnerable or challenged before any court, federal or not.
Although nothing concrete is agreed, he said, Clerides noted that the issue will be raised and there have been some steps for cooperation with foreign experts.
As regards the economic crisis and how this has affected the justice system, Clerides said that
what has changed are the demands and expectations of the people.
“People have become much more demanding. There is no tolerance in most cases eg corruption”, he said, adding that people have suffered a lot after the economic crisis, many lost their savings and jobs.
The people`s demand to find those responsible and put them before justice is something that we must make our best to satisfy so that the confidence towards the justice system is restored.
CNA acted as media sponsor for the event.
The post AG against resorting to draw to resolve deadlock in future federal court appeared first on Cyprus Mail.