Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the 39th plenary session of the Senate, senators discussed the Law on the provision of legal assistance at the expense of the state.

It was noted that until now, legal assistance at the expense of the state is provided only in criminal cases and is not provided for in administrative and civil cases, and a transparent mechanism for attracting lawyers providing legal assistance has not been introduced.

In addition, there is no single coordinating body in this area, which was the reason that low-income citizens could not fully benefit from the qualified legal assistance guaranteed in the Constitution, corruption factors arose, which prevented effective control over the spending of budget funds.

The above problems are resolved thanks to the considered Law.

In particular, the basic principles of providing legal assistance at the expense of the state, the main directions of state policy in this area, guarantees of the rights of citizens to receive legal assistance are determined.

The circle of persons receiving legal assistance at the expense of the state and the possibility of obtaining free legal assistance by citizens is expanding by including civil and administrative cases in the list of cases in which legal assistance is provided at the expense of the state.

Also, open and transparent mechanisms for maintaining a register of lawyers providing legal assistance at the expense of the state are being introduced, a procedure for selecting lawyers providing legal assistance at the expense of the state is being introduced with the introduction of information and communication technologies through an electronic system without a human factor.

Senators noted that this Law is important in terms of further strengthening the protection of human rights, providing citizens with the possibility of reliable protection in litigation, and eliminating existing problems in practice.

As a result of the adoption of the Law, the level of citizens’ access to justice will increase and guarantees for obtaining qualified legal assistance will be strengthened, a transparent procedure for providing legal assistance at the expense of the state will be introduced, and effective control will be established over the spending of funds allocated from the State budget.

At the end of the discussion, the law was approved by the senators.