In the context of his conversation with the journalist Panos Polyzoidis, at the end of the Section for the Digital Transformation of the 4th Athens Investment Forum, Stavros Asthenidis, the Managing Director of the Information Society (IS), spoke about the work of e-justice that will soon make the tele-trial available to us.
As he explained, this is a 200 million euro budget project, which will proceed with funds from the Recovery Fund and is a major intervention in the area of Justice. It will include not only the digitisation of the records, but also the procedures of Justice for the functioning of the courts.
“All this will go through new platforms that will be created,” he noted, citing the tele-trial as an example: “We have already run a tender and we are in the phase of the first signing of a contract for the project of the tele-trials. The philosophy of the project includes the possibility that the hearing procedure, the examination of witnesses, can be done remotely. In other words, there will be no need for a witness imprisoned in the prisons of Malandrinos to go to Rhodes, for example, in order to testify.”, as Mr. Asthenidis reported.
He also highlighted that during its 20 years of life. the Information Society is now the executive agency of the Ministry of Digital Governance. Taxis, the National Registry Office and the Criminal Registry are among the projects that have been run by IS, based on Community and national funding.
When he was asked about the 36% of respondents who stated that they do not know “gov.gr” in the survey, which was presented in the section, Mr. Asthenidis declared that he was not impressed, because the digital divide in Greece was quite large.
He added that it is difficult to make older citizens to learn about this and bring them closer to digital skills. However, he stressed that they could be involved in the digital process in other ways through social media or other platforms and services that are more user-friendly.
He said, though, that the Digital Academy of Citizens is already operating in this direction, while the Recovery Fund has also provided actions for digital skills and he expressed confidence that the digital divide will be reduced. Mr Asthenidis underlined that the Recovery Fund provides possibilities for the promotion of a large package of projects related to the digitisation of Justice, health records and the development of a telemedicine network, which will cover the entire Greek territory, focusing on remote and inaccessible areas.
As a response to a question about networks, he said that we should not distinguish IT from networks, because without good networks these applications are meaningless.
Especially for 5G and its benefits, he pointed out that it is not only about high speeds, but also about the applications that will be developed, foreseeing that the future of Greece will be bright, as long as the projects are implemented and the resources of the Recovery Fund are absorbed.
