The concept paper and draft law on free legal aid in Azerbaijan has been prepared. Both the documents were prepared by joint Working Group consisting of the country's leading lawyers and formed jointly by Azerbaijan Lawyers’ Confederation (ALC) and by Azerbaijan Law Reform Centre (ALRC) on the initiative of the latter.
Mr. Anar Bagirov, ALRC Chairman, the head of the Working Group said that the draft law "On free legal aid" provides an access to free legal aid for the law-income and socially vulnerable groups of the population. According to Bagirov, within 64 regions of the Republic, legal consultation offices exist in 25 of them only with 9 advocates for 100000 persons.
The new draft law reflects the issues of providing citizens’ right to qualified legal aid, of an addressing the problem of lack of advocates in regions, of providing the rights and interests of citizens and an establishment of organizations providing free legal assistance at places”, he said.
It is mentioned in the draft law that along with Azerbaijani citizens, foreigners and stateless persons are also eligible for legal aid provided by the government at courts and state bodies. The draft law will serve the interests of those people who are in need of free legal assistance in cases of criminal, civil, and administrative offences and who have no sufficient funds to pay for this kind of service.
Under the draft law a free legal assistance is envisaged to be rendered by the Ministry of Justice, the Bar Association and the National Council on the legal assistance and its territorial offices
The Chairman of ALRF mentioned that the legal services being provided by the government will be implemented in two forms. The draft law also contains clauses on urgent free legal services for low-income people.
Under the draft law the legal assistance will be provided by the public advocates and paralegals.
The draft law "On free legal aid" and the concept paper on it has been prepared and been submitted for the discussion by the legal community.
The drafts of both the documents are expected to be submitted to the Parliament this year after summarizing all the proposals.
It should be emphasized that the project was supported by international organizations operating in the country and was translated into English by them for the further international review.
The above mentioned documents can be obtained from the website of ALRC.
