Is justice only reserved for the rich?
OPINION by Mariyam Mohamed – 1 June 2004
It is encouraging to see that the pressure by reform
organisations is having somewhat of an effect on the
policies of the Gayyoom regime. One of the most important
things that we have seen of recently that could possibly
lead to less prisoner abuse by the concerned authorities in
a seriously flawed and often abused (by the same
authorities) legal system is the decision by the
government to finally uphold the provisions provided in the
Constitution of the Maldives for Legal assistance to people
charged with crimes.
So what does this mean to the people of the Maldives? Is the
government going to stop making up charges against people
accused of crimes because of the open nature of information
that this would create? The answers to these questions is
never quite definite, so let’s say, we hope so.
As we enter a new era of how the criminal justice system of
the Maldives is going to be operated, we are left with many
lingering questions. How does the use of a lawyer affect the
common everyday person in a country where 60% of the
population lives under the poverty line? Does this mean that
justice is only reserved for the wealthy few who can afford
lawyers to represent them?
In the United States of America and many other working
democracies this problem is overcome by the Public Defenders
office. This is an independent branch of the legal system
set up by the government to provide free legal defense
services for the poor person accused of crimes. The office
employs qualified lawyers and operates without the undue
influence of the government or the Attorney General's Office
only for the sole purpose of representing defendants accused
of crimes who simply cannot afford to hire their own lawyers
in their defense.
The lawyers, administrative staff and the support staff of
the Public Defenders Office should ensure that advocacy is
not compromised.
To provide this uncompromised advocacy, the Defender System
will have to supply each client with a high-quality,
competent, ardent defense team at every stage of the process
in which public defenders are necessary.
The lawyers of the office should be of high moral character
with a genuine need and desire to help the people of the
country and should always provide their assistance with the
best of their abilities without being judgemental about the
person they represent. The lawyers should be paid by the
state and appointed by a Judge to the particular types of
cases they are specialized in.
The lawyers of the Public Defenders Office operate under the
oath they take to represent faithfully all cases they are
assigned to handle. These lawyers should be held accountable
to the people and the government for the representation they
make on behalf of the people that use their services. It is
the government’s responsibility to ensure that these
fundamental principals of the Office and its lawyers are
upheld.
The fundamental principles of the office should be;
-
A commitment to excellence with all energy dedicated to
providing clients with the highest quality representation
and to preserving and defending the provisions in the Bill
of Rights (once drafted).
-
The Office’s foremost priority should always be the best
interest of the clients they represent, with respect for
individual human worth and the dignity of the people they
represent.
-
These commitments by the office should be realized by
providing opportunities of education and professional
growth of the Staff of the office. The aim of the office
should be to make all lawyers competent and a successful
member of the team.
It is important that these lawyers prepare well for the
cases, and that they are re-trained accordingly to changing
trends in the legal system so that they can do their jobs to
the full extent that the Public Defenders Office represents.
They should not simply be in place for the name of having
such an office for the sake of appearances like many things
the Government of the Maldives does to fool and cheat the
international community.
