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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Bill on free-of-charge legal assistance for citizens enters final stage

Belgrade, 29 April 2006

Serbian Minister of Justice Zoran Stojkovic stated today that the Bill on free-of-charge legal assistance for citizens is in the final drafting stage. The Bill will help the categories of citizens in need of such assistance but without means to obtain it.

Author: FoNet

Having answered citizens' questions by phone, Stojkovic said that each court proceeding is money-consuming and a large number of citizens cannot defend their own rights because of their social status. Assistance from a special fund will be paid to these categories, he added.

He also said that while talking over the phone with citizens, he received a lot of objections concerning the work of courts in Kragujevac, Sremska Mitrovica, Sabac and Pancevo and announced that he will visit these courts shortly.

Stojkovic said that long proceedings and court inefficiency are a huge problem in Serbia. There would be less talk of corruption in courts if these problems were solved, he added.

The Minister pointed out that a code on criminal procedure and initial and permanent training of judges will be on the agenda of Serbian parliament's session scheduled for May 9. He voiced hope that parliament will soon discuss the Bill on legal practice, which has been in parliamentary procedure for a year now but has not made it into the agenda yet.