Poor Can Ask For Free Legal AidChinese litigants whose rights have been violated and provide evidence that they cannot afford to take their case to court can now ask for assistance, said Liu Huisheng, spokesman of the Supreme People's Court, in Beijing Thursday.The measures were provided for in a regulation, which took effective today. The regulation honors a promise by SPC president Xiao Yang in the March legislative meeting that "justice shall prevail even for the economically disadvantaged." The SPC regulation has been based on extensive researches on opinions of lawmakers and the general public, as well as helpful practices in foreign countries, Liu said. "The regulation is aimed to guarantee social justice and ensure that all men are equal before the law," the spokesman said. The regulation specified 10 categories of individuals eligible for juridical remedies: -- litigants pressing for estovers from family members legally responsible; -- litigants pressing for pension, social security payments from the government and salary from employers; -- victims of traffic, medical accidents, job-related injuries pressing for reimbursement and compensation -- litigants who are seniors or orphans with no support; -- handicapped with no regular income; -- beneficiaries of state-funded charity programs; -- urbanites living under the poverty line or receiving unemployment benefits; -- farmers suing administrative bodies for making life hard for them by demanding too much illegal taxes; The regulation also said that social welfare bodies shall also be exempt from juridical expenses. According to statistics, legal aid centers were set up in 29 provinces in China by the end of May. |
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