On February 18, 2014 Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and Transparency International Georgia will present their second Monitoring Report on the Activities of the High Council of Justice (HCOJ). The report mainly covers the period of 2013 and was implemented in the following direction: transparency of the HCOJ activities; the procedural issues and reasoning of the decision; appointment/transfers of judges; composition of the HCOJ.
2014-02-18 04:33 See moreOn February 18, draft of amendments to the Law of Georgia on Electronic Communications was published on the website of the parliament of Georgia. The parliament approved first reading of the draft with 75-0 votes on February 18. We believe that the pending amendments need to be further improved considering that they do not cover all legal relations that they aim to regulate.
2014-02-18 02:40 See moreAccording to the released information, on February 14, 2014 Levan Maruashvili was examined in the prosecutor’s office under the witness status, while prior to interrogation his apartment has been searched. As reported, his examination might be linked to one of the charges submitted against Bachana Akhalaia. We would like to specify which procedures should be observed for conduct of search and examination of individual under the witness status.
2014-02-15 01:05 See moreIt has been reported that on February 10, 2014 the Law Enforcement Agencies arrested the Khoni municipality governor Zurab Jibukhaia, his deputy Besarion Tchelidze, and the deputy chairman of the United National Movement’s Dusheti organization Zurab Otiashvili.
2014-02-14 01:58 See moreOn February 14, 2014 GYLA held presentation of the Research – Obligation to Submit FOIA Reports (practice of Georgia, the United States and Australia). As the research has demonstrated, public agencies responsible for submission of FOIA reports, as well as agencies authorized to receive the reports have pro-forma approach to the process. They fail to implement even trivial obligations such as publication of freedom of information reports on the web-site of the Legislative Herald of Georgia within the terms established by legislation or submission of the reports to the President, the Parliament and the Prime-Minister according to the established rules.
2014-02-14 01:37 See moreWith assistance from GYLA’s lawyer the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection was ordered to issue normative acts in favor of individuals with disabilities Lawyer from GYLA’s Tbilisi Office represented interests of R.K., in the case against the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection. Under the court decision, the government of Georgia and the Ministry were ordered to issue normative acts, which should determine the amount of allowance for family care of individuals with disabilities and regulate other related issues.
2014-02-11 02:22 See moreGeorgian Young Lawyers’ Association is making some explanations about the statement of the Ministry of Energy in terms of public defender. The statement provides that: “When it comes to how reasonable it is to implement the Khudoni project and how necessary to hold discussion and make decisions, this goes beyond the authority and competence of the ombudsman”.
2014-02-10 00:58 See moreYesterday media outlets released a statement of the Minister of Justice saying that “on the very first day of the so-called tractors case I said that I believed in the truth of Kirvalidze and his team before law.” This has raised the question of whether the Minister of Justice could have had a positive legal influence on criminal proceedings instituted against the defendants if she believed from the very first day in their innocence.
2014-02-10 00:21 See moreThe undersigned organizations welcome the initiative of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Protection on initiation of the monitoring of Residential Childcare Institutions. According to the information released by the Ministry, the monitoring will cover all the institutions including the children’s homes under the Patriarchate. It aims to determine compliance of the institutions with childcare standards established in Georgia.
2014-02-07 04:54 See moreWe, Transparency International Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, believe that the amendments proposed to the Inter-factional Working Group by the ruling party are not enough to create a fair voting system for the upcoming municipal elections. We regret that the Inter-factional Working Group did not view reform of the electoral system as a priority to ensure fair and equal elections.
2014-02-05 03:22 See more