President Klaus swears in new judges

Czech President Vaclav Klaus swore in 44 new judges at Prague Castle on Tuesday. The judges will be working in district, regional and town courts across the country. According to the Justice Ministry, there were 2,696 active judges in the Czech Republic at the start of the year. Over 100 are currently on maternity leave and the ministry hopes to see the number of active judges rise to 3,054 by the end of the year to focus on improving procedures criticised by the Czech people and international organisations. While President Klaus said in January that several verdicts are inconsistent the European Human Rights Court has pointed out that courts are much slower in the Czech Republic than in other similar European states.