The lack of accessibility at the Beja Court, in the past day 20 February led to the postponement of a trial of a defendant with reduced mobility, remains more than three months later. The trial took place yesterday, because the elevator was working, but it did not take place in the main room of the building.
For being transported in an electric wheelchair, the defendant of 38 year old, could not re-enter the main door of the building, since it does not have an access ramp to save the six steps and thus be able to access the court's inner atrium.
Also in the session room where trials take place with the intervention of a Collective of Judges, located on the ground floor, given the width of the chair, the defendant is not allowed into the space where he must be heard during the trial.
The resource was to hold the session in the room where the Local Civil and Criminal Court trials take place., which is on the first floor, and which does not allow direct access to the court atrium, which is done by two staircases, located at each top of the space, there is no alternative for those people to go up to the upper floor. Even so, to be able to take the elevator to the first floor, the defendant entered through the door of the Public Prosecutor's Office, located on the minus one floor, and after walking through some corridors he was able to go up to the first floor
When the session was postponed last day 20 Feb., the elevator was out of order and the defendant ended up being left at the back door of the court, where you can access the elevator, the family members who accompanied him informed the court officials of the situation in question.
At the time, the Collective of Judges decided to postpone the trial “sine-dieâ€., until the situation has been overcome and the defendant can access the interior of the spaces, but also remains the same, except the elevator worked.
that date, the Lidador News (LN) asked Victor Mendes for clarification, Judicial Administrator of the Beja Court, about the unusual situation, justifying that the ramps outside the building and inside the room “are accesses that have not been implemented, not knowing when they could become a realityâ€, ensuring that the Institute of Financial Management and Justice Equipment (IGFEJ) and the DGAJ “is already aware of the same, reinforcing the need to find better conditions for the use of the buildingâ€, finished.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
