Court staff flout pandemic partying rules

The Ministry of Health (Minsa)   is studying the sanctions to be applied  to 15 Judicial  Branch  workers  members of the Employee Savings and Credit Cooperative CoopacreoJ-RL), which in  May held an anniversary  celebration  in the midst of the   coronavirus   pandemic which  has inhibited the  work of courts due to  COVID-19 contagions

The Minsa received a complaint filed by Luis Ramón Fábrega, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on July 15, after learning about the celebration and the possible infection of some employees of the Judicial Branch. Sources revealed that in just two offices of magistrates of the Court, at least four cases of officials infected with the virus have been reported.

It was also reported that a worker from the plenary cafeteria presented symptoms.

On Thursday, July 23,  the suspension of judicial terms was announced in the Third Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, as well as in the Second Court of Childhood and Adolescence of the First Judicial Circuit, because of the coronavirus.

On July 21, the suspension of judicial terms was ordered in the Fifth Municipal Family Courts of Panama, and Sixth Municipal Civil, Fourth Municipal Civil, Fourth Municipal Criminal, and Eighteenth Civil  courts  after several officials tested positive for Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court was closed for cleaning work, because of the virus.

The Implementation office of the Accusatory Penal System (SPA) proposed a plan for the reduction of the personnel working in the facilities of Plaza Ágora, to reduce contagions.

The strategy, proposed by magistrate María Eugenia López Arias, coordinator of the SPA, is to limit the number of judges who attend the hearings.

To date, some 128 officials of the Judicial Branch have tested Covid-19 positive, which has forced toughening the rules for physical distance within the facilities.