On Wednesday,
July 1, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk took part in the opening
ceremony of the first Kyiv local center of free secondary legal aid.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
has informed that from today one hundred centers of free legal aid will operate
across Ukraine. They will provide the legal services, particularly for low
income citizens, orphans and their trustees, ATO participants, families of
fallen soldiers and veterans.
The Prime
Minister says that the Cabinet has allocated about UAH300 million on this
project.
According to
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, till today these centers provided legal assistance just in
criminal cases, and from now the relevant categories
of people will be able to receive the legal services and lawyer service in
civil and administrative cases as well.
The Prime
Minister stressed the importance of the project: "People should have the
right to defense, and this right should be guaranteed by the state. The state
actually finances lawyers who will plead including with the authorities - the
central or local authorities, state bodies."
Arseniy Yatsenyuk has stressed that such centers
will help people "who need justice in the Ukrainian courts, in their struggle
against lawlessness, for the rights and justice that today should be the basic
idea of a new Ukrainian society."
"A person
should know that these guarantees are not just words on paper, but they are
accepted - through legal aid, when professional advocates and lawyers will help
a low-income person who previously did not have actual access to justice,
protect his/her rights either in court, or in any other public bodies."
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
has appreciated the Government of Canada, which joined the program. Under a
four-year project "Affordable and high quality legal assistance in
Ukraine", the Canadian government allocated 9 million Canadian dollars
"as additional help to make the free legal aid program operate."
The opening ceremony was attended by Minister
of Justice of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko and Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of Canada to Ukraine Roman Vashchuk.
The PM has
congratulated Roman Vashchuk on Canada Day, which is
celebrated today.
Background
information
There will be 3
to 7 centers providing free legal assistance in every region. More than 5,000
lawyers, selected in open competitions, will provide advice service and defend
civil and administrative cases in courts, including against the state.
Centers will
provide services of free legal aid to 8 million Ukrainians.