On December 9, 2014, Tbilisi City Court found four individuals guilty of crime envisaged by Article 166 of the Code of Administrative Offences of Georgia (petty hooliganism) for the involvement in the incindent outside the Patriarchy. On January 8 participants of peaceful demonstration outside the Patriarchy protesting against opinions voiced in the Christmas epistle were subjected by counter-demonstrators to physical and verbal abuse, seizing and destroying their posters, curtailing realization of their Constitutional rights and liberties.
2014-01-10 06:25 See moreThe Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary would like to express its position concerning the delay in electing a member of the Constitutional Court. A ten-year term of office of the member of Constitutional Court, who was designated by the parliament, expired on 23 September 2013. Nevertheless, the Parliament has not yet elected a new member of the Constitutional Court.
2014-01-10 03:49 See moreWith assistance of Lawyers from GYLA’s Tbilisi office, five individuals received monetary compensation (each GEL 12000) for illegal restriction of liberty Five citizens of Russian Federation were arrested by Georgian authorities in different times. Criminal cases were initiated against them and plea agreements were made. Afterwards they should have been discharged from the court room immediately, though they were imprisoned by the state for 4 months without any legal grounds. Being released from the prison, they applied to the court with GYLA’s assistance and claimed compensation for the damage for illegal imprisonment. At the trial the Ministry of Interior and the applicants have negotiated on provision of lump sum compensation to the applicants. The negotiation was approved by the court and consequently, each applicant received GEL 12000 from the Ministry of Interior as a compensation.
2014-01-09 01:54 See moreYesterday, on December 26, at the plenary session where MPs reviewed postponement of enactment of the new rule of witness interrogation for two years, representatives of the Transparency International Georgia and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association were disallowed to express their silent protest through demonstration of banners in response to the government’s initiative. The banners contained the following wording: “Human Rights cannot wait for Two Years”, “Protect the Right of Defense” and “Say No to Postponement”.
2013-12-27 05:20 See moreMedia Advocacy Coalition expresses its concern about the problem encountered in the process of manning the Board of Trustees of the Public Broadcaster of Georgia. Parliamentary majority and the minority had to nominate 6 candidates for membership of the Board of Trustees already yesterday, however the National Movement nominated only two candidates while the parliamentary majority submitted only one.
2013-12-26 01:53 See moreToday, at the plenary session, the Parliament will review with the first reading the government’s initiative on yet another postponement of the enactment of the new rule of witness examination. The new procedure of witness examination abolishes those unfair advantages which the prosecution enjoys to date and thus guarantees equality of parties. In particular, the prosecution will not be entitled to oblige the witness to provide testimony on the stage of investigation. In contract, the witness will be interrogated by the prosecution and the defense in equal conditions only at the trial.
2013-12-26 01:46 See moreOn December 20, 2013 Tbilisi City Court satisfied Giorgi Baratashvili’s law suit against the Public Broadcaster of Georgia claiming restoration to the position of the general director of the public broadcaster and compensation for the missed salary. GYLA’s Media Legal Defense Center represented Giorgi Baratashvili’s interests in the court.
2013-12-24 03:47 See moreWe release this statement in response to allegations about criminal record of the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia in Germany. As public may be aware, some of the below signatories learned about these allegations from unofficial sources, before it was made public, and we were in the process of verifying their truthfulness to avoid inflicting any harm to the image and credibility of law enforcement authorities by disclosing unverified information about this important matter. As the information has now already been disclosed, its credibility must be verified. Therefore, we urge the Georgian authorities to examine and disclose whether these allegations are true.
2013-12-24 02:51 See more“The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary” voices its position on the December 20, 2013 initiative of the Georgian government, which envisages yet another postponement of the enactment date of the new procedure for witness examination at the stage of investigation, for the period of two years until December 31, 2015. The Coalition considers that the initiated amendment will have adverse effect on the development of the criminal justice and calls on the initiators of the draft to withdraw the document from the Parliament.
2013-12-23 05:18 See moreAs it is publicly known according to the December 16 allegations made by Ivane Merabishvili, some unknown individuals took him away blindfold from the penitentiary on a vehicle to the unknown direction on December 14. As Merabishvili reports, he was brought allegedly to the penitentiary department, where the Prosecutor General and one other individual met him. Merabishvili says that the Prosecutor General demanded from him to cooperate on Zhvania’s case and to submit Saaakashvili’s bank accounts, in return he promised assistance in leaving the country. Otherwise the prosecutor threatened with creation of unfavorable conditions in prison and arrest of Merabishvili’s friends.
2013-12-23 01:50 See more