Legal experts slam sentencing laws
CALLS FOR the review of the current law regarding life imprisonment were made by both the Attorney-general and lawyer Achilleas Demetriades yesterday.
Currently, individuals sentenced to life imprisonment in Cyprus do not have any window of opportunity regarding their release. According to Demetriades, who has been a lawyer since 1988 and specialises in Human Rights cases, there is not much difference between a death sentence and life imprisonment in these situations.
“There are currently 13 people in Cyprus [serving life sentences]. The way things work, they have no chance to be released from prison, therefore the only difference with an actual death sentence is the actual timeframe,” he said.
“I do not propose banning life imprisonment; however there should be a creation of a proper judiciary council which will examine each case after a specific period of time. There should always be a chance for prisoners to be freed,” he added.
Professor at Athens University Nestor Kourakis also believed that prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment should have the chance for release. “It is very important psychologically for a prisoner to know that he will be released at some stage as he is much more likely to comply with the rules in prison,” he claimed.
He also went on to explain the problems that could arise. “People which have been sentenced to life imprisonment are much more likely to cause trouble and disturbances during their time in prison.”
Attorney-general Petros Clerides added he did not actually agree with either the policy in use before 1992, where the maximum imprisonment was 20 years, or the current policy on life imprisonment.
Another point which was examined at yesterday’s news conference was the issue of juvenile imprisonment. Kourakis claimed that it was imperative to only send youths to prison as a last resort.
“There have been recent measures to reduce the strictness on juvenile imprisonment and in these situations preventative measures should be encouraged instead of a prison sentence”, he said.
“Thankfully there are also laws that do not allow sentences regarding juvenile offenders to exceed 15 years. In addition to this, a court should hand out a sentence which is half the length of that normally handed out to an adult offender”.
Ombudswoman Eliana Nicolaou identified the major problem in the prisons in Cyprus at the moment. “The greatest problem in the prisons at the moment is over-population. There are currently 700 people in the prisons and the situation can be described as explosive,” she said.
Justice Minister Sophocles Sophocleous agreed that over-population was a serious problem but said that by next year or latest by 2008 the situation should be rectified. He also made clear that the Justice Ministry was working hard on trying to create a better judicial system.
“There are many measures being implemented in order to improve the conditions for not only the prisoners but also the prison staff,” he said. He concluded by saying that “a proper judicial system should constantly improve in accordance to sociological and scientific developments”.
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