authority and the court are responsible for ensuring the participation of a lawyer when required by law. The new Law on State-Guaranteed Legal Aid129 that entered into force on July 1, 2008, created the National Legal Aid Council and the Territorial Offices, which are responsible for appointing legal aid lawyers. The Trial Monitoring Programme overlapped only for two months130 with the new system of legal aid. Therefore, the conclusions in the present Report regarding the implementation of the right to legal assistance are largely based on observations of how legal aid functioned under the previous system. The right to legal assistance starts before the case goes to trial and is only meaningful to the defendant if it is provided to the him or her in an unrestricted manner both early in the case and throughout the proceedings. The scope of the Trial Monitoring Programme permitted observations only during the trial phase and not throughout the entire proceedings. Monitors observed that, in general, the right to legal assistance is respected with regard the presence or the appointment of a lawyer. Both in Chişinău and the Southeast, monitors noted that a defence lawyer was usually present and that when a defence lawyer was not present the judge usually appointed a legal aid lawyer or postponed the hearing. Only a few cases were noted ��������������������������������������������������������������������� in which ������������������������������������������������������������ the judge either started the hearing or pronounced sentence when the lawyer was not in the courtroom or judge’s office. Monitors noted that if the defence lawyer was not present at the hearing the judge would usually ask the defendant if he or she agreed to have a legal aid lawyer appointed rather than postpone the hearing. ������������������������������������������������������������� When��������������������������������������������������������� the prosecutor did not show up for a hearing, the judge typically declared a postponement. The appointment of a legal aid lawyer in such cases is made�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� to speed up the proceedings to comply with the reasonable term requirement. At the same time, the almost automatic appointment of another defence lawyer (rather than checking why the lawyer is not present, postponing the hearing and informing the lawyer to participate), in conjunction with the routine practice of postponing hearings when����� ��������� the prosecutor is not present, denotes a certain bias or attitude of judges that attaches less 3) The suspect, accused, defendant does not speak the language well enough or does not speak the language in which the criminal proceedings are conducted; 4) The suspect, accused, defendant is under age; 5) The suspect, accused, defendant is a military man in service; 6) The suspect, accused, defendant is accused or suspected of a serious, extremely serious or exceptionally serious crime; 7) The suspect, accused, defendant is under arrest as a preventive measure or is sent for a judicial expert examination in a medical institution; 8) The interests of the suspects, accused, defendants in a case are contradictory and at least one of them is assisted by a defender; 9) The defender of the injured party or of the civil party participates in the case; 10) The interests of justice require the participation of a defender in first instance, in appeal, in appeal in cassation, and in the examination of the case under extraordinary proceedings; 11) The criminal proceedings are conducted in respect of an irresponsible person accused of having committed dangerous actions or in respect of a person who became mentally ill after such crimes were committed; 12) The criminal proceedings are conducted for the rehabilitation of a person deceased when the case is examined. 129 ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Law on State Guaranteed Legal Aid, No. 198-XVI of  26 July 2007, which entered into force on 1 July 2008. 130 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Although the legal aid law should have entered into force on 1 July 2008, the process of entering into force was delayed until 1 September 2008. The Trial Monitoring Programme, therefore, effectively overlapped only for two months with the new legal aid system. 65