ATHENS – The disciplinary board of the Greek Supreme Court has fired another four judges from lower courts for lengthy delays in publishing court decisions, thus hindering the process of providing judgments and completing cases.

With the recent dismissals, a total of 24 judges or prosecutors have been removed from their positions in the last 11 months due to professional inadequacy. The four female judges who were dismissed were heads of first-instance courts in Athens, and some of the delays in their cases were as long as a year.

The decision to dismiss them was made by the plenary session of the Supreme Court’s disciplinary board, which included presiding judge Maria Georgiou and chief prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos. The delays in trying and publishing decisions have caused a chronic backlog in the Greek justice system, and resolving the issue is one of the reforms that Greece’s partners have requested.