Monrovia, March 24 (LINA) – Supreme Court Chief Justice Francis S. Korkpor says Magisterial Courts in various judicial circuits have been chocked with over 4,493 cases on their dockets that are being cleared during this term of court.
« Out of this number of cases, 3,219 cases were transferred to the Circuit Courts on appeal, while 1,137 cases are still pending, » the Chief Justice Korkpor pointed out, noting that in the circuit courts of the criminal division; there were a total of 743 cases on the dockets.
He indicated that of this amount 376 cases were disposed of and 13 forwarded to the Supreme Court on appeal, while 354 cases are still pending.
The Chief Justice stated that at the civil division there were 529 cases on the dockets, and that 299 cases were disposed of and one case was forwarded to the Supreme Court on appeal, while over 200 cases are still pending.
He asserted that in the specialized courts in the various judicial circuits, there were 671 cases on the dockets, 494 cases were disposed of and one case forwarded to the Supreme Court on appeal, while 176 cases are still pending.
Chief Justice Korkpor made the statement at the opening of the 2019 March Term of the Supreme Court of Liberia recently.
Korkpor further stated that the magistrates sitting program established by the Supreme Court of Liberia in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice at the Monrovia Central Prison is aimed at minimizing the problem of prolonged detention without trial.
The program, he said, continues to yield fruitful results by speedily attending to cases under the jurisdiction of Magistrate Courts in and around the city of Monrovia.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Korkpor also indicated that for the period under review, there were 361cases of pre-trial detention reported at the Monrovia Central Prison, and of this number 320 cases were heard and disposed of, whie37 are pending trial.
