Bulgarian citizens with incomes below the official poverty threshold will be provided legal aid free-of-charge. This is stipulated in amendments to the Legal Aid Act published today on the website of the Ministry of Justice. Every citizen who can prove with a document that his/her monthly income does not exceed the poverty threshold of BGN 300 may receive legal consultation in the regional centres of the National Bureau for Legal Aid after his/her property, health, family etc. status is taken into consideration. The aim is to facilitate access to justice for citizens living in remote locations, in social isolation, pensioners, disabled people, people without an address registration.
The law also establishes the already existing free-of-charge telephone number for initial legal aid (0700 18 250). Experienced lawyers will be on duty every day between 9:00 hrs and 17:00 hrs, and they will provide 15-minute free-of-charge consultations to citizens. The telephone number and the regional centres were implemented under a project financed via the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The activities were targeted at people from vulnerable social groups in order to defend their rights and interests.