Luanda – The Minister for Justice and Human Rights, Francisco Queiroz, announced Monday that by July, 14 Integrated Justice Centres would be opened, with registry offices, identification posts and notaries in as many provinces.
According to the Cabinet minister, as part of the Justice and Law Reform underway in the country, another 14 notary and civil registry structures are being repaired.
Francisco Queiroz, who was speaking at the opening of the 2022/2023 training year of the National Institute for Judicial Studies (INEJ), said that preparations were underway to find better solutions for the computerisation of courts and judicial services.
He stressed that, between February 2018 and 2022, 347 magistrates were trained by the INEJ, of whom 198 were judicial (judges) and 147 prosecutors.
He added that 209 magistrates were also trained to perform the functions of guarantee judge, of which 128 were judicial and 81 were from the Public Prosecution Service, appointed by their respective Superior Councils.
He explained that the courses given at the institute aim to train jurists, and others, for the exercise of jurisdictional activity and other functions in the area of justice, of registries and notaries and of civil and criminal identification.
Reform of Justice and Law
On the other hand, he mentioned that the current legislature, initiated in September 2017 by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, is based on the fight against corruption and impunity.
In this context, he pointed out that the Reform of Justice and Law is one of the main ways to achieve this goal.
He pointed out the legal reform and the reform of the judicial system, the computerization of the judicial system and the training of magistrates and justice officers as pillars of the reformulation.
He highlighted the approval, by the National Assembly, of new laws, such as the Penal Code, the Penal Procedural Code, the organic law of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the Judicial Secretariats and the People’s Action.
For the Attorney General of the Republic, Hélder Pitta Gróz, at this moment what matters is not the quantity, but the enhancement of the magistrates and the reaffirmation of the commitment to contribute for the accomplishment of justice.
He revealed that the level of scrutiny by society has never been so great and, therefore, a posture of true guardians of the highest social morality is required.
“The prestige of magistrates must be maintained and consolidated by way of their technical and professional quality, as well as their rigour,” he said.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Joel Leonardo, challenged the INEJ to add training in self-defence tactics for magistrates, as well as on environmental protection.
He believes that magistrates should also be trained in practices related to the digitalised management of court cases.
He asked the new “students” to identify with the expectations of the citizens, who expect wisdom, team spirit and humility in the performance of their duties and to serve the Law and the Constitution well.
The course formally opened today is the IX after an interruption that gave way to two special training courses that took into account the context and circumstances of the moment.
Through recruitment, more than three thousand applications were submitted, which were assessed by a jury that approved two hundred of them.
Source: Angola Press News Agency