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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 22 February 2014:
Judges across the country have stopped hearing cases until their safety can be guaranteed. They say . . .[restrict]judicial assassinations have become all too prevalent and that they face daily intimidation.
The decision followes the death of South Benghazi Court judge, Mayloud Amar Al-Rajhi, who died in hospital following an assassination attempt on Thursday.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Libyan Judges Organisation (LJO) said it had suspended work throughout all the country’s judicial districts because judges could no longer contend with the current level of threats to their security. It also said that there was a systematic and deliberate plan to silence the voice of justice in Libya.
An LJO official told the Libya Herald judges were “not protected and as such cannot expect to work freely when implementing rules and regulations”.
The official said judges were now assassinated and intimidated on a regular basis. He added that authorities had neglected the Judicial Police, who are charged with the protection of the judiciary and who had also announced a strike over deteriorating security conditions on Thursday. [/restrict]
