Regress made with judicial statistical data. Ministry of Justice does not compile its annual statistics for 2016

Even on the ninth month of 2017, the Ministry of Justice has not yet managed to meet its obligation to Monitor, Process, Analyze, and Publish Statistical Data about the Judicial System for the previous year, i.e. 2016. Every first quarter of the year, this institution presents its Annual Statistical Report to the public. Such report contains statistical data about the progress made by the Courts, number of court cases, compliance of judges with the judicial deadlines, punishments given for certain groups of criminal offences, court proceedings by districts, etc. Such statistical data usually come in the form of a PDF publication, which serves the public, justice professional, journalists, and scientific researchers. In 2015, the publication methodology was enriched by a group of indicators about criminal offences related with corruption. The publication of this annual statistical report is an obligation according to the Law on the Organization of the Ministry of Justice and the relevant secondary legislation. AIS, as an organization promoting the right to information and transparency, addressed the Ministry of Justice, asking for an accessible statistical database for the justice system for 2016 and onwards. Transparency with the judicial statistical data becomes even more important now that the system is going through a vetting process. Similar delays with certain publications have also happened in other similar years before due to the Ministry reshuffling and change of the Minister of Justice.