Italy's Cassation Court, which is
the top appellate court in the land, said Tuesday it has so many
cases pending it risks "a default".
The supreme court is "besieged by a monstrous number of
appeals" and the government must issue a decree to remedy the
situation, First President Giovanni Canzio told Justice Minister
Andrea Orlando and the chairs of the House and Senate justice
committees.
Canzio said the court is beset by "a pathological flow" of
80,000 appeals a year, of which 50,000 are criminal cases and
the rest are civil cases.
On the civil side there are 105,000 cases pending - 48% of
them filed by the State - and reaching a verdict takes an
average of four years.
"The gap between the Cassation Court and all the other
courts around the world has taken on uncomparable and
mind-boggling proportions, which calls democratic values into
question," Canzio said.
"We must reach concrete results in a very short time
frame," he said. "We need a few, simple interventions via
decree".
"Wide-ranging reforms should go hand in hand with emergency
measures," added Cassation Court Chief Prosecutor Pasquale
Ciccolo.
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