Protection of rights of war and military veterans is one of the priorities of the Legal Aid Service. 

The Legal Aid Service offers free legal consultations in order to ensure protection of rights of war and military veterans. They are entitled to use person-to-person and telephone/online consultation services. Legal Aid Service provides legal assistance on disputes related to the protection of rights of war and military veteran’s rights to an insolvent person whose case falls into the category of complex and important cases

Legislation of Georgia determines social guarantees for the war and military veterans. The award of such guarantees depends on category. The legislation determines following categories of war and military veterans:

• Veterans of World War II and people equated  to them;
• Veterans of military action on the territories of other countries and people equated to them; Veterans of military actions for the defense of territorial integrity, independence and freedom of Georgia and people equated to them;
• Veterans of Military Forces.

Social guarantees of veterans and people equated to them include:

• Pension guarantees in accordance with the Law of Georgia on “State Pensions”
• Exemption from payment for utilities -  for the removal of domestic and other waste, water, gas, electricity, subscription fee for the phone, as well as using public transport (except taxis) in cities, using suburban and intercity transport in villages in accordance with the legislation of Georgia;
• The inadmissibility of eviction from corporate housing without providing them with another housing.

Veterans who have special merits for the state, who have been awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union or the title of National Hero of Italy and Yugoslavia for the liberation of these countries, or awarded with all three degrees of the Order of Glory, the Order of David IV the builder and all three degrees of Order of Vakhtang Gorgasali, in addition to social guarantees determined by this law are entitled to additional benefits:

• in the event of death, the attribution of their names to the streets, schools, squares in accordance with the procedure determined by law and at the burial site, the installation of a bust of the deceased according to the Georgian legislation, at the state's expense;
• Awarding the family (parents, spouse, children) a one-time cash allowance in the amount of 20 minimum pensions (salary).

Legal Acts

• Constitution of Georgia
• Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• Law of Georgia on War and Military Veterans
• Civil Procedure Code of Georgia
• General Administrative Code of Georgia
• Administrative Procedural Code of Georgia
• Law of Georgia on Legal Aid Service
• Law on Advocates
• Ordinance #424 of the Government of Georgia on approval of a rule for determination of insolvency of a person
• Decision #20 of the Legal Aid Board on approval of Regulation of the Legal Entity of Public Law –Legal Aid Service 
• Decision #27 of the Legal Aid Board on approval of criteria for providing legal aid service determined under article 5 and 3 of the Law of Georgia on Legal Aid 
• Professional Code of Ethics for Lawyers

Scope of Service

In the course of conducting defense on civil and/or administrative cases, the lawyer of Legal Aid Service, as the rule conducts following actions:

• Reviews the information and case materials.
• Meets with the client and provides legal advice.
• Analyzes the information related to the case, ensures the collection of evidence and submission with the court for the purpose of successful conduct of the case.
• Represents the client in court.
• Drafts legal documents related to the case – motions, claims, counterclaims, motions complaints, applications.
• Informs the client an in case of necessity his/her legal representative on the course of conduct of the case.

Terms of Use of the Service

The Legal Aid Service provides free legal assistance on the protection of right of war and military veterans if a person is insolvent and his/her case falls into the category of complex and important cases.

A person is considered to be insolvent and entitled to use legal services on state’s expense if he/she is a member of a family registered in the unified database of socially vulnerable families, whose socioeconomic index is equal or below 70 000.

In addition, person is considered to be insolvent and has right to use the legal services on the state’s expense  in case he/she is a member of a family registered in the unified database of socially vulnerable families, whose socioeconomic index is equal or below 100 000 and belongs to one of the categories listed below: 

• Member of a multi-child family with more than 3 children under age of 18;
• War and the Military Veterans;
• Person with limited capacity status under age of 18;
• Adults with significant and severe expression of disabilities;
• A person with significant, severe or moderate expression of disabilities, in case it started from childhood;
• Orphan under the age of 18;
• People displaced as a result of the aggression by The Russian Federation against Georgia;

The legal services can be provided in special circumstances to those people who are not registered in the unified database of socially vulnerable families but due to difficult social-economical condition cannot afford to cover the expenses of legal assistance. This is regulated by the Decision #27 of the Legal Aid Service Board adopted on September 9, 2015. This condition applies to the persons who belong to the following categories:

• Persons who met the criteria of insolvency and their data is available at the archives of unified database of socially vulnerable families;
• Persons whose difficult social-economical condition is proved by the certificate issued by the local self-governing institutions;
• Persons with incurable and serious disease;
• Single mother who has juvenile children;
• Person acknowledged as a victim of political repressions;
• Pensioner;
• Lawyer employed by the Legal Aid Service, his/her family member and relative;
• Family who lost bread-winner;
• Beneficiaries of the Program on Rehabilitation and Resocialization of Former Prisoners of  LEPL “Crime Prevention Center”;
• Beneficiaries of international humanitarian union “Catharsis” (Charity House).