National
Spanish Judiciary in urgent need of more resources
By h.b.
May 7, 2008 - 7:35 AM

A number has now been placed on the back up of cases in the Spanish judiciary system – 270,000 cases pending.
The General Council for Judicial Power, CGJP, the body which oversees the judiciary in Spain, has printed the latest data of the delays in the penal courts across the country, which shows that the worst situation is in the Cataluña region where there are 56,000 sentences pending.

There are six cities which specialise in such penal cases – Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Bilbao and San Sebastian, and the data in the new report has been provided by these areas. They are demanding urgent new resources, the installation of their own computer system, and fewer trainee or temporary workers.

The CGJP report was drawn up after the public outcry following the Mari Luz Cortés case, which has seen the accused man, Santiago del Valle, being at large simply because of the delays and mistakes in judicial cases against him.

The findings of the report will be debated by a Parliamentary Commission tomorrow.