Cockroaches are eating computer toners in the Municipal Court 1 in Skopje every day, the judges complain.

They said that this problem is the reason why they are not able to print the records of the court sessions. Low electricity in the court building is an additional problem. The network server as well as personal computers in the court rooms constantly malfunctions because of the electricity.

“The power is unstable and that is why the network crushes down. New electric installation has been installed recently, but it has the same old disadvantages. Today, all computer records are typed on computer and automatically stored on the server. We are lucky that we have not lost a record so far. You can only imagine the troubles of the judge who will lose a record of the session,” said Mihail Dogandziski, judge in the Municipal Court 1.

During the court session against Vojo Mihajlovksi, the electricity broke down and the network server collapsed and the session has been paused as well as all the sessions in the court at that time.

Apart from the electricity problems, the judges have problem with air conditioners, too. If the air conditioner breaks down in summer when the temperatures are high, the printers in the court rooms immediately break down.

“Most of the air conditioners work, but not always properly. Because of these problems sometimes we are waiting very long time to print the records. According to the law, each party must receive a record of the session, and they can be longer than ten pages,” explained Dogandziski.
 
He added that they were finding cockroaches in the printers, but the heat and the laser were killing them so there were no bigger defects.

Yet, some of the judges said that cockroaches have eaten the toners of the printers on several occasions.

“This is big shame for the country. This court, as the biggest court in the country, should have the best equipment instead of fighting cockroaches,” one of the judges reacted.
 
Ministry of justice announced prompt solution of the problems.

“In all of our projects, Municipal Court Skopje 1 has a priority because of the gravity of the cases treated there. We have scheduled a project with the European agency for reconstruction and development and other donors for building special court room for organized crime, and witness protection project. 400.000 euros are already provided for this,” said Mirjana Ilievska, spokesperson of the Ministry of justice.

She announced the complete restoration of the Municipal Court.

“We have submitted request for restoration and superstructure of the court building. We expect positive reply as soon as possible. It is planned the complete restoration of the court building and building additional floor,” added Ilievska.

Aleksandar Bozhinovski 

Source: Vreme