Legal aid also includes expenses for consultants and witnesses

Admission to free legal aid covers not only court costs, but also allowances and travel expenses for witnesses and technical consultants. This was ruled by the second civil section of the Court of Cassation in its sentence 25445/2025 published on 16 September in an appeal - rejected as inadmissible - in which the defendant had contested the defence lawyer's fees.

When legal aid is granted, the defendant is relieved not only of court costs but also of travel costs for witnesses and expert witnesses. If this right is not granted, the patron is entitled to take legal action, which could be likened to a revocation and rejection of legal aid. It would be an undue compression of the right to free legal assistance in this case.

According to the Court of Legitimacy, in any event, the right to challenge only partial refusals or acceptances of the application for the award of costs belongs only to the defendant, who is the only one entitled to claim, against the State, a right to remuneration from which the defendant is excluded, since he is in no way obliged to pay the public defender's fees.

Assistance is structured in fact as a direct relationship between the defendant and the state, in which the defendant does not appear. The defender who disputes the sum awarded is therefore entitled to the protection of a subjective property right. Only when the legal aid has been granted and then revoked or rejected, the defendant (or would-be defendant) is legitimated to oppose the decree rejecting the request for admission or revocation of legal aid.