Skopje Criminal Court lay judges started a peaceful protest on Tuesday due to, as they said, the stagnation of their daily allowances, which have amounted to between 570 and 670 denars for years.
The blockade is the result of a long-standing problem with the amount of per diems and the absence of a resolution to their demands by the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Council, which is causing delays in court hearings and creating additional pressure on the country’s judicial system.
Council President Kambovski expressed support for the lay judges’ demands, stressing that the compensation they received was inadequate for the conditions in which they worked and the duties they performed in the judicial system. However, he referred them to the Ministry of Justice for a solution. So far, there has been no official stance from that institution.