MINSK, 21 April (BelTA) – Lawyers and notaries are primarily people of the state, BelTA learned from Belarusian Justice Minister Sergei Khomenko on 21 April.
Sergei Khomenko said: “Lawyers and notaries are people of the state. These people represent the state.”
The official noted that these specialists work according to the principles of accessibility, independence, and legality. “But legality is the keyword after all. Yes, a lawyer is independent in the course of court proceedings and in the course of tackling the tasks he or she faces within the framework of professional activities. Yet the statehood of every person is the foundation of stable life of our society. Regardless of whether they are a notary, a court officer, an archive worker or a museum worker,” the justice minister stressed.
In his opinion, the phasing out of law firms and individual defense attorneys will not make their services less available for the people. “The main indicator of availability is the availability of all kinds of complaints that our citizens submit when lawyer's services are unavailable or denied. We have no such complaints at present,” Sergei Khomenko stated.
BelTA reported earlier that Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko received the justice minister's report on 21 April. Speaking about defense attorneys, the head of state said that defense attorneys must be under control and act in line with the law. “A defense attorney has to do their job without fearing anything but at the same time we should understand that he or she is a person of the state. And their actions should be based on norms of the law instead of some cooked-up notions like the freedom of speech and other freedoms. We are already fed up with this freedom. Thank god, we saw what freedom is being brought to us here,” the president stressed.
