Project

Free Legal Aid in the District Court of Tbilisi

From May 2002 till June 2005, by financial support of the US Agency of International Development (USAID) and the Maryland University IRIS-Georgia, NGO "Article 42 of the Constitution" carried out a project - "Free Legal Aid on Criminal Cases in Tbilisi District Court".

Existing grave social conditions served as a ground for the project effect. It occurred quite often that detainees had no financial resources to enjoy qualified legal aid.

The aim of the project was to provide socially unprotected sections of population with legal aid on criminal cases in Tbilisi District Court.

6 lawyers selected through a competition were involved in the project. Almost all cases were concluded by successful outcomes through the right use of the strategy by the lawyers.

Within the framework of the project, lawyers worked on 221 cases and gave legal consultations to lot of individuals. During 2004-2005 prisoners have applied to us for legal aid; about 120 applications were received from penitentiary institutions.

Informational bulletin - "Article 42" was published each month within the scopes of the project. Current project events, news concerning the legal processes, various articles on legal issues were published in the bulletin. Further, brochures were issued by the project lawyers, such as:

How to appeal a verdict or some other decision delivered by the court on criminal case;

Your rights in the Court of Appeal;

Strategy of defense;

Application of pardon and its features;

Fundamental rights of suspected and defendant in criminal proceedings.

We organized a round table regarding legislative amendments in Criminal Procedural Code on the following issues: "Types of preventive measures" and "consensus of parties in the court's practice". Practical lawyers, judges, representatives of prosecutor's office and NGOs were invited at the round table meeting.

As a result of project effect we gave legal aid to more than 800 persons: have worked on 221 cases, including 180 successful cases, provided with legal advices nearly 600 persons.