Advocates are on strike today in protest against legislative changes related to advocacy. The ruling power wants to impose a tax on the provision of free services by lawyers.

“This law is a burden for a citizen seeking the help of an advocate. And naturally it is also a burden for the advocate as well. If the cost of our service increases, many citizens will not be able to receive quality legal assistance from the advocate they want. Moreover, there is a layer of citizens who are not included in the list of persons who have the right to receive free legal assistance through the public defender’s office. Mr. Karen Mezhlumyan, a member of Board of the RA Chamber of Advocates said on 21 May.

According to him, everyone has a certain percentage of cases that they carry out for free, he also had many such cases, and there are cases that were of strategic importance.

“This is a serious challenge to provide legal assistance to the state. We believe that such an unjustified, unreasoned draft should not have been presented, and even more so, it should not be discussed and should not be accepted,” he said.

Details in the video.