Strengthening legal aid in litigation activities

(Baonghean.vn) - On December 17, the Provincial People's Committee held a conference to summarize 6 years of implementing Joint Circular No. 10/2007, deploying Joint Circular No. 11/2013/TTLT-BCA-BTP-BQP-BTC-VKSNDTC-TANDTC on guiding the implementation of a number of legal provisions on legal aid in litigation activities.

Attending the conference, on the side of the Ministry of Public Security, there was Major Nguyen Van Thinh - Deputy Head of Division 2 - Department of Legislation; on the side of the province, there was comrade: Thai Van Hang - Member of the Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; and representatives of a number of provincial departments and branches.

Comrade Thai Van Hang spoke at the conference.

After 6 years of implementing Joint Circular No. 10/2007/TTLT-BCA-BTP-BQP-BTC-VKSNDTC-TANDTC, there has been a positive change in awareness among the prosecution agencies and prosecutors about legal aid. Many prosecution agencies have done a good job of introducing subjects to the Center to complete procedures to request legal aid. Some units have proactively requested the Center to send people to participate in the proceedings right from the time of arrest and during the investigation phase, creating favorable conditions for legal aid providers in the process of studying files, approaching subjects and finding out the objective truth of the case.

As a result, the number of cases referred to the prosecution by the prosecution agency has increased compared to before the Joint Circular No. 10, increasing the number of cases from the investigation stage; people's awareness of the right to legal aid in litigation has changed, many people come to the Center for advice before, during and after the litigation process. In 6 years, the Provincial Legal Aid Center has handled 1,485 cases, an average of 250 cases/year. This is a high number compared to other Legal Aid Centers in the country.

Speaking at the evaluation of the results after 6 years of implementing Joint Circular No. 10/2007, comrade Thai Van Hang affirmed that legal aid activities have really changed people's awareness, becoming a bridge to help people understand the law. However, there are still some limitations that need to be overcome such as: some agencies conducting proceedings are still hesitant in providing legal aid, coordination between agencies in the legal aid council is still formal, not tight, not in-depth... Therefore, in order for Joint Circular No. 11/2013/TTLT to come into life and really be effective, the Department of Justice needs to identify the main role, direct branches and units to implement Circular 11, along with doing a good job of propaganda so that people know the rights and obligations of those receiving legal aid. During the implementation process, it is necessary to regularly check and urge the implementation results to achieve good results.

Quang An