The State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Radomir Ilić and the President of the Bar Association of Serbia Viktor Gostiljac have signed the Protocol on the information exchange in the attorney referral process for the provision of free legal aid, which stipulates the establishment of a free legal aid call centre. The Protocol was signed at a gala event organised by the Bar Association at the National Theatre in Belgrade to mark the 158th anniversary of the Bar in Serbia and the Serbian Legal Practitioners’ Day.
State Secretary Ilić emphasised that the establishment of an effective free legal aid system had been one of the strongest points of collaboration between the Bar and the Ministry of Justice. With the Free Legal Aid Act in force since 1 October 2019, the State Secretary said that the information provided to the Ministry by local government units indicated that the free legal aid system was up and running. He explained that the current practice under the Act implied that authorised persons in local government units made referrals to attorneys by calling the Bar Association of Serbia. This procedure will be more streamlined once the call centre is established within the Bar Association.
State Secretary Ilić noted that the call centre would be particularly valuable in terms of effective collection of reporting statistics and for the Bar Association’s oversight of the free legal aid system. ‘Considering the importance of equal access to justice for all citizens, and especially for members of vulnerable or disadvantaged social groups, I would like to stress the value of continued cooperation between the Bar and the Ministry of Justice in this area,’ he said.
Bar Association President Gostiljac stated that the establishment of the free legal aid call centre would be yet another success shared by the Bar Association of Serbia and the Ministry of Justice, in addition to the already established call centre for the appointment of ex officio counsel, and the criminalisation of assault on an attorney and the adoption of the Free Legal Aid Act. ‘There are many more things we would not have been able to accomplish if the Ministry had failed to understand, at some very important moments, our needs and requirements,’ he concluded.