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Spanish judges strike over poor working conditions
Oct 8, 2009, 11:48 GMT
Madrid - Spanish judges staged their second ever strike on Thursday over what they described as poor working conditions.
The judges' association APM said 'very large numbers' of judges heeded the strike call, without giving figures for the time being.
Many Madrid courts, however, were reported to be functioning normally.
The APM was the only one among Spain's four judges' associations to call the one-day work stoppage.
Other associations consider that the government is doing an acceptable job in trying to meet their demands, press reports said.
The government is planning to increase the number of courts by 600 and to invest 600 million euros (900 million dollars) in modernizing courts over the next three years.
In February, judges staged what was described as their first ever strike to protest what they described as their lack of resources and work overload.
That strike was also organized in solidarity with a judge who came under criticism for not having jailed a paedophile who then killed 5-year-old girl.
The strike contributed to the difficulties of then justice minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo, who subsequently resigned.
Justice Minister Francisco Caamano described Thursday's strike as illegal. The government has previously maintained that the judiciary is a power of state which cannot go on strike.
The increase of court cases has clogged courts which still had 2.5 million cases left to resolve in the end of 2008.
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