Coronavirus reaches court
New resources for beleaguered justice system
NEW courts are being set up by the regional government to speed up the backlog of cases awaiting trial.
One will be opened in each province (Alicante, Valencia and Castellón) to deal with disputes related to the Covid-19 crisis, announced regional councillor for justice Gabriela Bravo.
The ones in Valencia and Alicante will be mercantile courts and the one in Castellón will be for social cases.
They are among the 23 new courts specifically for Covid-19 related cases that the ministry for justice has authorised to be set up nationwide.
Sra Bravo said mercantile cases have been among the worst affected by the paralysation of the judiciary during the pandemic, especially since businesses face closure and all sorts of other problems that depend on the courts.
The workload of the existing mercantile court in Alicante is at 212% of its capacity, with 589 pending cases, she stated.
The extra court is needed to clear these cases in order to help the economy recover more quickly, she said.
New courts for Torrevieja and Gandía
New criminal courts were inaugurated in Torrevieja and Gandía this week.
A total of 14 civil servants started work on Tuesday to get the facilities up and running.
A spokesman for the regional justice department noted that this is the sixth lower tier court for Gandía and the fifth one for Torrevieja.
He explained that the fifth floor of Torrevieja courthouse had been reorganised to make way for the new judge and administrative staff.