Justice || Monday, September 1, signalled the reopening of the country’s courthouses and the first day of the “new judicial map”.
It is the reschuffle of Portugal’s court system, which has seen the closure of countless country courthouses, much to the anger and frustration of communities.
The reasoning behind the shake-up has been to “concentrate on specialisation”, according to the Justice Ministry – but the focus in the media has been on the number of populations affected by the loss of their local court.
As judges returned from their holidays, 20 courts up and down the country are now closed for good, with many others holed-up in containers as repairs to new ‘judicial centres’ continue.
Although councils and civic organisations are against many of the closures, newspapers are not reporting any significant protests this week. There is only a movement created by a group of lawyers via Facebook appealing to all court workers to turn up for work dressed in black – as a sign of mourning for the courtrooms that will not be reopening.
