Filenews 23 March 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
The green light was lit the day before yesterday by the Cyprus Bar Association for the ambitious project "Justice for All". The plan will provide free legal aid for EIO recipients.
In the first stage, the plan will be piloted in Nicosia, with the relevant Municipality granting premises to which members of the Cyprus Bar Association will provide their services free of charge. According to the reasoning behind the lawyers' decision, a large number of citizens cannot afford to turn to a lawyer and seek simple legal advice. At the same time, many lawyers over the years offer their services without remuneration, to people who turn to them for legal help and who cannot afford it.
According to the rationale of the decision, the assistance already provided today by many lawyers, should be provided in a structured manner, under the auspices of the Association, which will also have the supervision of the program. For this purpose, a new body called the Cyprus Justice for All Network will be established, with the aim of operating and managing the programme. The aim is to ensure that the program does not work in a way that will deprive a lawyer of a job. Beneficiaries of the project will be only natural persons, on the basis of economic criteria and only recipients of EIO.
The program, as decided, will operate in two pillars:
• Through service centres, walk-in type
• Through a network of volunteer lawyers who wish to offer their services free of charge from the program.
There will be walk-in centres in existing municipal buildings (in the multipurpose centres). Each centre will be staffed by a lawyer, an associate of the institution to be established. To cover the costs of the centres, a fund has already been approved by the Minister of Finance. Lawyers at the centres will be assisted by law students. The centres will in principle be given legal advice - guidance and if judicial measures are required, the citizen will be referred to a lawyer dealing with such cases, on the basis of the list kept with the volunteer lawyers.
The proposal approved yesterday by the Board of Lawyers, according to information provided by "F", was the result of an initial recommendation/ initiative of the Justice for All platform (consisting of Alexia Kountouri and Melina Pyrgos, lawyers) and which was co-formed by Giorgos Christofides, Nikolas Tsardellis and Koulias Vakis of the GPP. In the final discussions participated and was actively involved and the President of the Council of the GPP, Christos Clerides. The announcement of the program is expected before Easter.
