Because lawyers were not involved in the legal aid process, Topaloudis’s trial was delayed three days ago, angering the family. As the chairman of the Athens Bar Association, Mr. Dimitris Vervesos“lawyers were blamed for the delay, but who would work if they had three years to pay? Justice cannot be done with unpaid workers.”

Lawyers have not been involved in the legal aid process for three weeks now, as their services have not been paid for more than three years. Legal aid is the provision of legal representation to citizens who are unable to pay a lawyer to represent them. However, as in TACHDIK (Court Buildings Fund) Service that only two officials responsible for issuing payment orders check the relevant documents, the delays are long.

Now TACHDIK, according to information from officials, is considering cases in the summer of 2019, and in some courts of first instance, liquidation began even earlier, at the end of 2018. According to the Bar Association, there are 43,000 liquidation cases pending, with an average of 30,000 legal actions each year requiring legal assistance. The income limit below which a citizen can request legal assistance was 7,500 euros, but a year ago it was raised to 12,500 euros, so many more citizens eligible for legal assistance are included. This, of course, means that many more financial debts have accumulated. In addition, in all criminal proceedings, the state is required to appoint a lawyer through the legal aid mechanism if no one hires a lawyer, even if they have a higher income. This is determined so that in serious crimes there is a security of protection for all. Legal aid was also used in some cases during the Golden Dawn trial.

According to information, only two employees of the profile fund are now viewing files from the summer of 2019.

“The state makes social policy on the back of lawyers. This is unreasonable,” emphasizes Mr. Vervezos. “If a lawyer owes money to the state, they tie his TIN. If the state owes a lawyer, does it matter?” accent on “k”.

The Chairman of the Bar Association explains that there are appropriate funds, since they are provided for in the budget of the last four years. This is 15 million a year, about 60 million euros in total. He also explains that the Bar Association from time to time proposed various solutions to expedite the proceedings, but none of them were accepted by the State. “We offered to set off the debts of lawyers, but we were told that we need to carry out liquidation,” says Mr. Vervesos.

However, in recent months, an attempt has been made to second employees of the Ministry of Finance to TACHDIK for a certain period of time. According to the notice issued by the Ministry of Finance (11/21/2022), those employees who wish to relocate must apply for secondment in exceptional cases before the end of the year, since the permanent procedure is carried out through mobility. In fact, for every 500 files cleaned by an employee, there is an additional fee of 1,000 euros. Through this process, if, of course, there are applications, it is expected that from February the number of employees in TACHDIK will increase. However, according to Mr. Vervesos, it will take more than a year to complete the liquidation process.

It is worth noting that lawyers providing legal assistance are registered in the relevant register at the Bar Association, and their selection is carried out according to a list that is in alphabetical order and changes every week. The lawyer’s fee is the minimum for each action set by the Bar Association.