Court interpreters in Athens held a protest on May 5 in the courtyard of the former Evelpidon School courts, denouncing the Greek government’s move to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into the judicial system. The Attica Court Interpreters Association is demanding the suspension of the initiative and the signing of a collective labor agreement.
The protest follows the government’s announcement on April 15 that AI will be used in courts for automatic translation of legal documents, interpretation and transcription of foreign witness testimonies, and voice-to-text recording of oral court proceedings. The initiative stems from a cooperation agreement between the Ministries of Justice and Digital Governance and is part of a broader digital transformation plan.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the project aims to accelerate procdures and reduce operational costs. “The utilization of modern information and communications technologies will contribute decisively to the digital upgrading of the Justice system,” the ministry said in a statement.
The government noted that “the translation of hundreds, if not thousands, of pages and the search for available translators and interpreters, especially in some languages, causes significant delays in the speedy issuance of court decisions as well as a financial burden.”
However, court interpreters have pushed back forcefully, warning that the technology undermines legal guarantees. “In this way, the ministry substitutes and circumvents the legal right to the assistance of an interpreter, whose responsibility is to certify and establish the right to interpretation and its validity for every accused, suspect and witness,” said the Attica Court Interpreters Association.
They argue that AI tools cannot legally or ethically replace human interpreters in courtroom proceedings. “This new measure raises substantial and important issues of invalidity of the procedure, while it lacks legal basis since the validity of the interpretation is not based on the responsibility of the interpreter appointed by the court, but on a ‘smart’ machine whose reliability cannot be checked for whether it hears correctly or translates correctly.”
“It is no longer clear who takes responsibility for the validity of the interpretation but also for the unhindered and objective exercise of the right to interpretation, as opposed to the personal presence of the interpreter. The first victims of the implementation of this measure are foreigners, immigrants who will need to come into contact with justice for any reason,” they added.
The Association called on the Ministry of Justice to negotiate a collective labor agreement and urged the DSA—the jurisdiction with the largest caseload—to address the issue urgently. They also appealed to the Association of Judges and Prosecutors “to take a distinct position and support our just demands.”
