Citius returns to normal, courts have not yet – Reuters

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
                         

The computer system of courts of first instance, the Citius, should operate throughout the country between this Tuesday and on Wednesday, with the purpose of electronic transfer of court proceedings the district of Faro, the last to be intervened. At least these are the information of the Ministry of Justice.

                     

                         But that does not mean, for now, the return to normality of the courts, that no one ventured to say when you succeed. “The return to operation of Citius across the country is certainly a breakthrough, although it is still not the full normalization” of the courts, says a spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, Albertina Pedroso.

Since soon because about 5% of cases, the oldest, are not eligible for automatic transfer. Then, because the court acts during this month and a half where the IT platform was inoperable must now be entered into the system. Many were practiced only on paper, while others were passed on to the computers of the courts, but using other software than the Citius, for which now have to be transferred.

In any case, says President of the Union of Judicial Officers, Fernando Jorge, “there are processes that are not yet able to access and where missing pleadings.” The joining such a month and a half of accumulated work out and still Citius chronic staff shortages in the courts, the justice minister promised to start solving for over a month with the hiring of 700 people. But so far the contest has not opened. “The process is under evaluation at the Ministry of Finance”, reacts guardianship, while the union leader speaks of “inconseguimento” between the two ministries.

“There are still plenty of magistrates without access to computer platform, not are associated with new organizational units “, ie, the new counties, note the president of the Association of Prosecutors, Rui Cardoso. A problem that, according to the Supreme Judicial Council, no longer is the case of judges. The ministry Paula Teixeira da Cruz speaks on “residual cases of attorneys who are not accredited in the system” being resolved by the body responsible for the protection Citius, the Institute for Financial Management and Equipment of Justice, as they are known.

And despite assurances that have only transfer processes of the district of Faro, judicial sources assured that the Citius was not operational during this Monday in the district of Porto. Also the chairman of the district council of the Bar Harbor, Elizabeth Grangeia, realized that the computer system of courts “was paralyzed.” The aim was “raising the county,” he said. However, the Ministry of Justice denied such a blockage.