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Free
legal aid is a right that needs to be realized
in practice
02.04.2008
On April 1, 2008, the Albanian
Helsinki Committee (AHC) organized a round table
discussion regarding the role of the civil
society in offering free legal aid to citizens
whose rights are violated by representatives of
state authorities.
The purpose of the discussion was
to present achievements and difficulties
encountered in offering free legal aid, from
AHC’s standpoint, as well as to exchange views
between representatives of organizations that
offer legal services and representatives of
different institutions.
During the period May 2007 –
March 2008, AHC received 467 complaints and
requests from citizens, arrestees, convicts, and
lawyers. AHC offered services such as: address
and verification of complaints, of cases
denounced by citizens or the media, legal
counseling, legal assistance for completing
documentation to be presented to courts of
different levels, address of problems and
recommendations for relevant institutions,
address of problems in orther specialized
organizations, representation of cases in Courts
of all levels.
A large number of complaints that
AHC addressed related to the area of prisons and
pre-trial detention and involved issues such as:
hygiene conditions, poor infrastructure in
pre-trial detention facilities, food quotas,
lack of transparency in actions of prison and
detention facility administrations, failure to
respond in a timely fashion to
complaints/requests by convicts or detainees,
violation of convicts’ correspondence, use of
physical and psychological violence in prisons
and detention facilities.
The treatment of persons with
mental disorders who are serving prison terms as
well as the poor legal information of convicts
who don’t have the possibility to address the
courts to request reduction of sentences or
other legal actions were also the target of
complaints and their address by AHC.
Numerous complaints deal with the
system of criminal justice particularly:
procrastination of judicial processes, lack of
information from courts of different levels to
citizens, lack of possibility to obtain free
legal protection by persons demanding a review
of criminal decisions. AHC has received requests
to submit cases at the European Court of Human
Rights.
Citizens complain about police
bodies regarding cases of maltreatment and the
use of violence, failure to respect the right to
be informed, detention beyond legal limits,
stopping lawyers from meeting with their clients
without authorization from prosecution. Citizens
have complained and requested counseling about
the unjust termination of labor relations,
health services, etc.
Participants in the round table
discussion exchanged views regarding
difficulties that organizations offering legal
services encounter. Free legal aid for citizens,
offered by AHC, has also encountered
difficulties. The verification of complaints in
closed institutions, such as detention
facilities and prisons, is not always possible.
In considerable cases, different state
institutions have failed to resolve addressed
concerns. Although there is a law on the right
to information, there are difficulties in
obtaining information from state institutions.
At the end of the discussion,
participants emphasized the need to approve as
soon as possible the law on free legal services
as a special institution, increasing cooperation
between organizations that offer legal services,
training of lawyers offering free legal services
and private lawyers.
Participating in the round table
discussion were representatives of the civil
society, the judicial system, prosecutor’s
office, ministries and other state institutions,
the People’s Advocate, the High Council of
Justice, international organizations working in
Albania, lecturers, jurists, and experts.
AHC’s activity in this area and
the round table discussion were sponsored by the
Swedish Helsinki Committee.
For further information, please
contact:
Prof.as.dr. Vasilika Hysi,
Albanian Helsinki Committee
Av. Etilda Saliu,
Albanian Helsinki Committee
Address: Rr.Gjin Bue
Shpata
Pall 5/1,
Ap 4
P.O. Box
no. 1752
Tirane
Tel: 04 233671
E-mail: office@ahc.org.al
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