Report on the Free Legal Aid Act has been published on the Justice Ministry’s website. According to the report, 1,902 citizens have received free legal aid in the first six months since the application of the Act.
Between 1 October 2019 − when the Act entered into force − and the end of March 2020, a total of 2,079 requests for free legal aid were made. Out of those, 1,902 were granted. While most of the beneficiaries received free legal aid from the competent public services within the local self-governments, 416 beneficiaries were referred to attorneys-at-law.
Free legal aid is most often granted in civil litigation and administrative cases. Other examples include enforcement and extra-judicial settlement cases. Many of the free legal aid requests also concerned divorce, alimony, and child custody cases. In terms of criminal case proceedings, free legal aid was mostly granted to victims of domestic violence.
In addition to free legal aid services, the Act prescribes free legal support by mediators in dispute resolution, public notaries, and citizen associations. Since the application of the Act, 7,460 citizens have received legal advice, 3,657 citizens have received general legal information, and 635 citizens have been helped with filling out forms. The number of free legal support beneficiaries is significantly higher than the number of free legal aid beneficiaries because many units of the local self-governments have been involved in providing legal advice and general legal information to citizens.
The Report shows that the system of free legal aid has become largely operational. There were some local self-governments with authorised personnel, which had not received any requests for free legal aid. This suggests a need for a campaign to raise the citizens’ awareness of the ways to exercise their right to free legal aid. The Ministry of Justice has already committed to running such a campaign in the upcoming period, and with the support of the Multi Donor Trust Fund Project.