In his keynote speech at the Best Legal Conference Dr. Christos Clerides, President of Cyprus Bar Association, said that Cyprus is currently undergoing its 21st century “Legal Renaissance”. Please find below the full text of his speech.
In recent years, administrative law cases have been referred and filed to the newly established Administrative Court and Asylum cases to the new Court of International Protection.
Since 1st July 2023, we have a new Appeals Court with three divisions, Administrative Law, Civil and Criminal, and a new third tier level of administrating justice, a new Supreme Court, and a new Supreme Constitutional Court. We have a new body for the appointment and promotion of Judges. A new Judicature Council with the participation of lawyers and a new Advisory Council advising the President for appointment of Judges at the higher level, the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The judicial reform must be completed within the next three years with the creation of specialised jurisdictions at the District Court level, the appointment of more judges, the introduction of ADL, ODR, Digital Recordings and the introduction of e-justice for the electronic filing of Court documents and creation of electronic digital files.
The construction of the new Court in Nicosia will now be completed by 2029. At the same time new civil procedure rules have come into force on the 1st of September, based on the British Model, amendments are made out to the Criminal Procedure Code, and a new Law of Evidence has been introduced since 2004 abolishing the hearsay rules in all civil and criminal cases.
At the same time the Bar Council is pressing for the creation of a new permanent Law Commission to proceed with the Reform of outdated legislation based mostly on the Colonial Victorian legislation such as Contract Law, Bills of Exchange, Torts, Criminal Code, Civil Procedure Law, the Execution of Judgments, Companies Laws, Trust Law. All these laws and others need to be revised and brought up to present-day needs.
In the context of this “Legal Renaissance”, Cyprus has legislated for a new Commercial and Admiralty Court. With the amendment of the Constitution English language where the parties agree, and the Court endorses it maybe used.
The intention is to attract the resolution of serious and important cases in Cyprus before the Commercial Court, which is composed of 5 judges, waiting to be appointed, hopefully by the end of this year. The new Admiralty Court with its new modern admiralty rules aspires to bring back admiralty to Cyprus to its high days of the 70s and 80s.
Language is very important in this respect and judgments in English will be read and understood internationally. The new admiralty rules contain important provisions making arrest and release of vessels attractive.
The new Commercial Court aspires to make Cyprus, an EU member, with all that entails such as recognition and enforcement of judgments within the EU, an international dispute resolution centre attracting at the beginning not only cases involving Russian or Ukrainian interests but also interests and disputes in the Middle East Region. The new Commercial Court was set provided for (Law 69(1)22). Commercial disputes of 2.000.000 Euro or above will be determined by the Commercial Court composed of 5 Judges. It will have its own registry at the beginning in Nicosia although Limassol is also envisaged and Larnaca also aspires to have a seat.
The Court is based on the Irish model. Disputes relating to a “business document” will fall within the jurisdiction of the new Commercial Court. It remains to be seen how this novel form will be interpreted and applied by the Court. The jurisdiction of the Cyprus Commercial Court is somehow more limited than that of the Irish Court, but the possibility is always there to expand. For the Court to be successful it is important to appoint experienced judges and in the near future gradually reduce the 2.000.000 Euro jurisdiction limitation and expand its jurisdiction as the Irish model.
The new Admiralty Court has also been provided far in the same new law. At the beginning it will consist of two judges only due to the very small number of admiralty cases pending in the Supreme Court and the District Court that continue to have jurisdiction for the time being. Under the new admiralty rules, the Admiralty Court will be open on Saturdays, a provision that facilitates arrest and puts the weekend visits of ships coming on Saturday and leaving on Sunday to avoid arrest under the exiting regime at an end. Again, the success of the Court will depend on the appointment at first stage of two high calibre admiralty law and practice advocates or judges. If successful, the number of judges may increase, the court may have seats in more districts such as Limassol and Larnaca where works are carried out for the expansion of its past facilities. Moving on to another subject of great importance nowadays, recent developments in the Extradition field and the enforcement of European Warrants of Arrest have taken place reasserting the established judicial policy on the matter, that the Courts will abide strictly by Rule of Law principles ensuring stability and certainty of the law, sending abroad the message that the judiciary will uphold the law in all cases. This judicial activity sent a clear message to the International Community that the Rule of Law will be upheld at all costs and the Cyprus judicial and legal system will stand firm in protecting and enforcing rights and upholding lawful obligations. In the case of Re Application BS (2023) Civ. Appl. No. 63/2023, 11th July 2023, the Supreme Court dealt with an application of Habeas Corpus for the release of the applicant sought to be extradited to the Russia Federation, for the embezzlement of assets from the Federal Budget of the Russian Federation by false pretences in connection with material damages as a result of the Chernobyl disaster. Despite the international isolation of the Russian Federation as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Supreme Court decided that no evidence was filed to prove that in case of extradition the applicant will be at risk of discriminatory treatment or violation of his Human Rights. The Court will not accept generalisations and will not uphold a principle that there is a presumption of non-extradition to the Russian Federation as a result of the present-day overall situation.
The case analyses fully the Cyprus Law on extradition and practice. It may be contrasted with jurisprudence of other countries, for example England, where extradition to the Russian Federation has always been almost impossible. Politics of the judiciary may come into play in this field.
In another also very recent case, the law of the European Warrants of Arrest was examined in detail. In the case of In Re A.K. (2023) 2/2023 (i-justice), 16 May 2023, the Supreme Court dealt with an appeal against the execution of a European Warrant Arrest issued by the Federal Court of Germany ordering the custody and return of the appellant a kurd, accused in Germany of participating in a foreign terrorist Organisation PKK. The case received wide publicity in the media. The Court rejected the appeal upholding the first instance judgment and allowed the execution of the European warrant of Arrest. The Court dismissed all argument especially that there was a risk that the appellant may be extradited to Turkey from Germany and found that procedures and prerequisites applicable in Cyprus for the execution of a European Warrant of Arrest were duly met. Once again, the Supreme Court sent its own message that it will not interfere with Government decisions and policy and will uphold the Rule of Law in such cases.
Concluding, I need to say that Cyprus is undergoing its own “legal renaissance” and it is expected that with the next ten years the Cyprus Legal System will be transformed into a modern system comparable with that of our friends in the European Union. All this provided the budget of the government on Justice will continue to be increased. In fact, substantially increased.
