Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association will prepare a report in regard to developments of June 20-21. “On June 20-21, society once again witnessed dissolution of a large-scale protest rally using disproportionate police force.  Dispersal of the protest entailed an administrative arrest of 305 people, while a number of individuals were injured”, - is noted in the statement released by GYLA.  Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. “Transparency International – Georgia” (TI) discovered violations in property declarations of a part of members of the Government and Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazeti in 2019. “”Transparency International - Georgia” studied more than 20 property declarations of officials. As a result, 5 facts of insufficient completion of declarations and 2 facts of failure to entrust other individuals with own shares were identified”, - is stated in the information released by TI. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. According to the statement of “Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary”, the Council of Justice does not release public information in regard to candidates of judges of the Supreme Court. “The Coalition calls on the High Council of Justice to publicize data submitted to the Council in regard to candidates (except that about their health condition) and information obtained by the Council immediately, meanwhile to discontinue procedures of the competition”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia publishes a blog post: Anti-corruption policy of Georgia fails to meet obligations committed through the Association Agreement and Association Agenda. "Over a year and a half since the adoption of the Association Agenda, Georgia has attained positive results in terms of maintaining progress achieved while eradicating petty corruption, however, it fails to improve the situation in regard to fighting against high-level corruption”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. "Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary” responds to the fact of carrying out a competition for selection of a candidate for the position of State Inspector with violations and failure to meet an obligation related to provision of financial guarantees to the Office of State Inspector. The Coalition addresses the Parliament and the Government of Georgia and urges: - the Parliament of Georgia to not support candidates selected through violation of competition rules; - Prime Minister of Georgia to announce a new competition; - to provide the Office of State Inspector with relevant financial resources in a timely manner in order to ensure that enactment of an Investigative Mechanism on July 1, 2019 is not threatened. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Based on the appeal of the Public Defender of Georgia, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) will monitor the ongoing process of selection of judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia. "Due to high importance of the process of selection of judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia, the Public Defender appealed to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on May 27 of the current year and requested to monitor the process. It should be taken into consideration that again on the basis of a request of the Public Defender, the same organization, on April 17 of the current year, published a legal opinion and recommendations related to a bill initiated in the Parliament in regard to the issue of selection of judges of the Supreme Court. Monitoring of the process of selection of judges will be a logical continuation of this process. By the letter of May 30 of the current year, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has confirmed its readiness to observe the selection process and its compliance with both national legislation and international standards as well as good practices”, - is stated in the information released by the Office of the Public Defender. Read more… Source: The website of the Office of the Public Defender

Tbilisi. ‘Institute for Development of Freedom of Information’ (IDFI) published a research – ‘Regional Governor State Vehicles and Fuel Expenses: 2017-2018’. ‘Analysis of vehicles owned by regional governor administrations and related fuel consumption points to challenges related to rational and efficient use of resources. The high overall number of vehicles owned by governor administrations, prevalence of expensive luxury models, and high fuel expenses demonstrate a necessity for optimization and stricter oversight mechanisms. An additional serious concern is the practice of free of charge gifting of vehicles to governors by municipalities within the respective region. This practice raises questions about the proper use of municipal assets, contradicts the process of decentralization of governance and undermines the independence of local government. The prevalence of challenges identified in this document throughout the country points to the necessity of considering the option of establishing a centralized service for state-owned vehicles. It is also necessary to introduce technological systems for stricter monitoring of state-vehicle use and their fuel consumption. Information presented in this document was gathered by IDFI through freedom of information requests that were sent to 9 regional governor administrations, requesting public information about the state vehicles and fuel expense in 2017-2018’, – In this document is said. Read more  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' (TI) requested public information in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and double-checked the status of implementation of large scale infrastructural projects, planned during the last 5 years. In the review there have been included: Zugdidi football stadium, Zugdidi rugby stadium and two hotels, Ganmukhuri botanical garden, rugby stadium in Senaki. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia has studied trends of Georgia’s automobile fuel market in 2014-2018. As a result, the findings were revealed about a fuel quality, fuel prices, market structure, budget revenues and etc. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) welcomes the initiation of drafting the new Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan for 2019-2020 by the Secretariat of Anti-Corruption Interagency Council and hopes that the document will cover all the important objectives for corruption prevention. ''Analysis of the practice of combating corruption in Georgia shows that the independence of the agencies fighting corruption is the most challenging. IDFI has been highlighting the deficiencies in the existing anticorruption system for a long time in various formats'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post: Compliance with deadlines for case review and decision-making in the Tbilisi City Court - practice of 2015-2018 years. ''The purpose of the current study is to reveal compliance with/breaching deadlines for case review and decision making by judges in the Tbilisi City Court, which is the busiest court in the country'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:idfi.ge

Imereti. According of ‘Transparency International Georgia’, the majority of municipalities in Imereti spend money on carrying out their delegated powers from their own budget. ‘Funds, which are transferred by the central government to the local self-governments in order to exercise their delegated powers, is for the most part not sufficient and that’s why local self-governments have to mobilize their own resources’, - Is mentioned in TI’s information. Read more  Source: The organization’s webpage

Tbilisi. Rustavi 2 TV channel broadcasted an investigative documentary Studio Monitor and Radio Liberty produced. The documentary "Judges in the Government’s Service” followed up on the government’s attemptedconfiscation of Constanta Bank from its founders in 2011. It further hinted at alleged misconduct by the prosecutors and judges. CRRC-Georgia conducted a follow-up phone survey to find out whether and how the public viewed the documentary. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' publishes results of a public opinion survey. ''Use of power by public officials for their personal benefit is common in Georgia, while the Government does not respond to such cases respectively. At the same time, cases of petty corruption still remain extremely rare'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia publishes results of a public opinion survey, according to which: authors of unfair decisions, taken in the past under pressure, must quit the court. ''The survey revealed that among institutions, existing in the country, court is one of those which have the lowest trust rate'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International Georgia'' has studied issues related to ownership of influential televisions operating in the country. The study, which mainly covers the period from 2014 and onwards, along with the identity of broadcasters, reveals their possible business connections and interests on the background of a politicized and polarized media environment. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) studied the practice of handing financial and property resources by the state over to the Patriarchate beyond annual budgetary subsidy in 2016-2018 years. According to information released by EMC, extent of property, transferred to the Patriarchate in 2018 increases in comparison with 2016-2017 years, which fact is supposedly connected with ongoing political processes, including the pre-election context. Read more... Source:The website of the organization