Africa-Press – Angola. At least five Judicial Magistrates are needed in the Court of the District of Menongue, province of Cuando Cubango, to ensure the speed required in the processing of cases, informed the presiding judge of the body, Jones Paulo.
Currently, the Menongue District Court has only eight judges, linked to Family matters, two to Civil and Administrative matters and five to Criminal matters, an insufficient number to respond to current needs.
The magistrate, who was speaking to the press this Thursday, said that the Menongue District Court sent the local needs to the Superior Council of the Judiciary for this purpose, as the five new judicial magistrates will be sufficient to meet the demand.
The magistrate informed that Cuando Cubango only works with one and only District Court, which handles all cases in the nine municipalities, despite the fact that in 2022 three more were created in the municipalities of Cuito Cuanavale, Cuangar and Mavinga.
He justified that the ones in Cuangar and Mavinga do not work due to the lack of accessibility conditions by road, which would facilitate the adequate work of the magistrates, whose competences transcend those of the Menongue Court.
“If it is feasible to rehabilitate the roads that give access to Cuangar and Mavinga, the Court services and others will be implemented, aiming to bring justice services closer to the population”, he announced.
Jones Paulo considered that 2023 was a positive year due to the fact that the Menongue District Court processed 614 criminal cases, with the interrogation of 932 defendants, whose trials are faster.
Without presenting comparative data, he reported that in the period in question, two thousand 781 criminal cases from the criminal, family and civil and administrative forums were submitted for consideration by the Court of the District of Menongue, which resulted in one thousand and 64 trials, while others thousand 717 are underway.
It indicated the crimes of theft, robbery, serious offenses to physical integrity and the rape of minors, as being the most frequent.
In relation to the fight against corruption, he reported that Turbinal received three cases of “petty corruption”, which deserved the necessary treatment, whose accused public managers were sentenced with sentences converted into fines.
Regarding money laundering, he added that the Court has an ongoing process, in addition to the necessary survey being carried out in the registry offices, to assess the existence of others of the same nature or underlying, in the sense that they deserve priority treatment, before opening of the Judicial Year.
The Judicial Magistrate praised the work of the guarantee judges in speeding up proceedings, since their entry into operation, in May 2023, despite there being only two.
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