Serbia's lawyers go on strike

Serbia's lawyers go on strikeBelgrade  - Serbian lawyers said Monday they were going on a three-day strike to protest tighter financial oversight ordered by the government.

The head of Serbia's attorney bar, Dragoljub Djordjevic, told radio B92 all 7,000 lawyers in the country will join the stoppage and effectively block the justice system by refusing to perform any procedural activity until Thursday.

The lawyers are protesting a government decree ordering them to introduce fiscal registers for their services by March. Attorneys insists that the budgeting requirement jeopardizes the confidentiality of their relationship with their clients.

The registers record all transactions conducted by a business and help the authorities curb tax evasion. Farmers selling produce in markets and taxi drivers also recently held protests against the order to introduce registers. (dpa)