MOSCOW, May 31 - RAPSI. Moscow Bar Association head Genri Reznik has called court-assigned attorney wages a disgrace shortly before they will be bumped up to $16.7 per day on January 1, 2013.

Today, court-assigned attorneys in criminal cases receive 298 rubles ($9) per day. The amount has not been changed for nearly 15 years. As of July 1, attorneys will receive 425 rubles ($13) per day. The figure will then be bumped up to 550 rubles ($16.7) per day as of January 1, 2013. The increase is envisaged in a resolution published in banking standard and regulatory acts.

"The disgrace remains, although now it is less of one," Reznik said at a roundtable talk on the Day of the Russian Bar organized by the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

He noted that court-assigned attorneys are dissatisfied with their payments all around the world. However, he stressed that these attorneys in Russia receive far less than many of their counterparts.

In France, they receive 80 euro per hour, Reznik said.

"Feel the difference," he added.

Reznik believes that a system should be implemented in Russia under which the government would be annually concluding general tariff agreements with bar associations, as per the example of the budgets approval. Such system would resolve the problem of this "disgracefully low payment" Reznik believes.