Facilitated access to court buildings service

The First Basic Court in Belgrade has, at the suggestion and thanks to selfless help on the part of the Basketball Club in Wheelchairs "Dunav" (KKK "Dunav"), set up a facilitated access to court buildings Service for people with disabilities, elderly people with walking difficulties, pregnant women and parents with children in perambulators.

Namely, with the formation of the facilitated access to court buildings Service, the aforementioned citizenship categories will be able, by making a call to: 062 8 095 095, to announce their arrival to the Court at least 24 hours in advance and address the employees, so that they may conduct their affairs at the Court in the easiest and most accessible manner.

Citizens are also presented with the possibility to, outside of Court working hours, announce their arrival via our web service for facilitated access.

Apart from the wish to facilitate access to the Court, this initiative is intended to raise public awareness as well as provide a good practice example.

The employees of the Service will provide assistance upon entering the court building, orientation within premises, as well as upon exiting the court building.

Deputy President of the First Basic Court, judge Vesna Lazarević stated: "The First Basic Court in Belgrade takes care of the rights of all citizens, particularly those of people with disabilities, making sure they have the same conditions as everyone else while making use of court services. In the upcoming period, the First Basic Court in Belgrade will complete the processes of removing all spatial and communicational barriers, so that the physical environment within the Court buildings is better suited to people with disabilities, all with the purpose of enabling their unobstructed functioning in the society and achieving their full integration."

Manager of the Court Milenko Đuričić MA emphasised: "We remain open towards establishing partnerships with expertise People with Disabilities (OSI) organizations as well as organizations which act on behalf of People with Disabilities (OSI), with the purpose of development and application of standards of access without obstacles. We deem necessary to make additional efforts to remove all physical barriers, which would be possible only with the financial support of foreign donors and participation of ministry departments or local government."

"A specifically marked entrance equipped with a ramp will be at the disposal of people in wheelchairs. In order to ensure safe entrance and exit of an individual in a wheelchair, of the utmost importance is the agreement and communication between the Service assistant and Service beneficiary", said Ivana Keranović, representative of the Public Relations service of the First Basic Court.

"Our Service assistants will be noticably uniformed, wearing orange fluorescent vests with a visibly placed "Facilitated access to court buildings service" sign. Assistants will, for the time being, be assigned to three court locations: Palace of Justice, the building of the former Fourth Municipal Court and the building of the former Fifth Municipal Court", Uroš Lakić, coordinator of the First Basic Court's Service emphasized.

The service working hours:

• - Ustanička st. 14 on workdays 7:30 - 19h, Saturdays 7 - 14h;
• - Savska st. 17a on workdays 7:30 - 15h;
• - Mihajlo Pupin blvd. 16 on workdays 7:30 - 19h, Saturdays 7 - 14h.