Luanda, ANGOLA, December 21 - Supreme Court Chief Justice Joel Leonardo on Friday, in Luanda, urged magistrates to always "make decisions that obey the law and not the will of the judges".,

The top magistrate made the appeal during the swearing-in ceremony of the first 38 judges for the newly created appellate courts, who will work in the Luanda and Benguela second instance courts.

With this stance, according to the Chief Justice, the courts will continue to hold citizens accountable for what they do and not for what they are, regardless of their social or political background.

He underlined that a state ruled through democratic and law-abiding principle demands that the justice sector promote harmonious coexistence in society and effectively protect the public interest.

Thus, he called on judges to be focused on and guided by the respect for the Constitution and the law.

He also called on judicial magistrates to ensure that court trials do reach a decision and never allow the file or lawsuit to remain in the registry office or inconclusive.

"Judges need to exercise the power to judge that has been assigned to them by law for the benefit of citizens and to build a legally organized response so that wrongdoers do not escape justice," he warned.

The top judge also recommended speeding up the proceedings, so that there can never be postponements of trials without plausible reasons.

To this end, he defended the reform of mentalities, appealing to magistrates and other judicial operators to improve the posture and interpret well the signs of the new times in which courts are increasingly positioning themselves at the forefront of the defence of individual rights of citizens.

In his view, reforming the mindset means punctuality at the beginning of the sessions, urbane debate among the members of the jury, and that the discussions do not end up in unnecessary quarrels.

The Appellate Courts

The new judicial instances, as intermediary bodies, will provide rulings in all matters, thus decreasing the current pressure on the Supreme Court (which so far has also been functioning as a second instance court) which is now going to focus on litigations involving matters of law (legal interpretations) within the framework of the requirement for a more balanced and effective distribution of justice.

In the first phase, there will be two appellate courts, one in Luanda and the other one in the centre-west Benguela Province.

Angola has 659 judicial magistrates functioning at different levels.

In the ambit of the reform taking place in the justice sector, the country has now 20 first instance courts out of the 60 planned ones for the judicial regions, plus two appellate courts and one Supreme Court.

Angop has learnt that advanced work is underway in the judicial sector for the opening of two more courts of appeal in the short term.

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