Tbilisi. By the decision of the Kutaisi Court of Appeal, Zestafoni Educational Resource Center was ordered to appoint Nona Babuadze as the Chief Specialist and reimburse her wage loss of 8000 GEL. The lawyers of our organization’s Kutaisi office defended Nona Babuadze’s interests in court. ''In 2017 Nona Babuadze participated in the competition announced for the position of Chief Specialist of Zestafoni Resource Center. She successfully passed all the stages and the majority of the members of the competition commission supported her candidacy, but the Head of the Resource Center did not consider the opinion of the commission members and appointed another person as the chief specialist'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: The webpage of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) submitted a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of a woman, victim of systematic violence committed by a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. The complaint is about systematic violence committed by the high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs against T.T. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, on behalf of Ana Dolidze, a member of the Council of Justice, appeals to the Tbilisi City Court against those decisions of the Council, by which she has been rejected to attend interview and voting processes of specific judges. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Based on a statement of Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), on a Zviad Ratiani case, the Personal Data Protection Inspector has recognized the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an offender. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary negatively appraises a legislative package, which is prepared under the authorship of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and is intended to be the basis for amendments into the Code of Administrative Offenses. ''According to the initiated project, in cases of petty hooliganism and disobedience to a lawful demand of police, the amount of fines increases significantly. For violence prevention it is important to perform not tightening of a verdict, but uniform and fair execution of law in all cases'' - reads the statement released by the Coalition. Read more… Source: www.gdi.ge

Samegrelo. Guli Kartskhia, a lawyer of a Zugdidi office of ''Transparency International Georgia'', was defending interests of six doctors, released in January 2018 from a Zugdidi polyclinic for internally displaced persons. The polyclinic reinstated them before a court proceeding. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary is starting "Make Courts Trustworthy” Campaign. "Recent developments in the judiciary once again exposed the extent of the systemic problems in the judiciary. It is clear that the reforms implemented in the court system in recent years failed to achieve their main objective of having justice delivered by independent and impartial judges whose integrity and competence are not in doubt”, - Is mentioned in the statement of Coalition, - "The Coalition believes it is necessary to critically revisit the steps made regarding the judiciary and to acknowledge the problems. For this purpose, the Coalition is starting its "Make Courts Trustworthy” campaign and demands that: the political leadership acknowledge its share of responsibility for the crisis in the judiciary; the judiciary be freed from clan governance; the Prosecutor’s Office take interest in and fully investigate all probable cases of crimes related to the judicial system; the Parliament implement real reforms, based on which the influential group within the judiciary can no longer abuse legislation for its illegitimate purposes”. In full  Source: http://www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. With the help of GYLA, Radio ''Hereti'' won a court hearing against the Communications Regulatory Commission. The Tbilisi City Court abolished the National Communications Commission decision, according to which a competition on a radio frequency, announced in the Batumi City, was canceled. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. In regard to the case of Tatunashvili, civil society organizations request the government to submit an inter-state application against Russia to the European Court of Human Rights. Read more... Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On 15 February 2018, the State Audit Office published a compliance audit report assessing the management of property owned by Tbilisi Municipality in 2015-2016. Among other issues, the report covers two cases related to former Chief Prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze's company, BSR-CDG Development, LLC. ''Specifically, according to the audit conclusion, in the first case, this company received approximately 3,500 sq. m of land through a competition-free auction, as a result of which the Mayor's Office lost an opportunity to receive additional income. In the second case, in exchange for a land plot owned by this company on which a road had been built, the Municipality gave BSR-CDG Development three land plots on a different territory. The process got protracted over several years, due to which the company paid a lot less to cover the difference in the cost of these land plots than it would had the procedure been competed in a timely manner. Considering all of the above, it becomes clear that the relevant agencies of Tbilisi Municipality have been managing the city property in an inefficient manner. This could, among other things, have been the result of a certain corrupt deal made with BSR-CDG Development. These circumstances are exacerbated by the fact that, last year, Otar Partskhaladze physically assaulted former Auditor Lasha Tordia, most likely because of his work on this report. The investigation of this case is still under way'', is noted in the statement. In full… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia makes a statement on Archil Tatunashvili’s death in Tskhinvali prison. „On February 23, 2018, the de facto authorities of the Tskhinvali region released information about the death of Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili in the Tskhinvali prison. According to the information provided to the Public Defender, Archil Tatunashvili was already dead when he was brought to the Tskhinvali hospital, where the medical personnel said he seemed to have been beaten according to his injuries. The Public Defender urges the occupation force to immediately transfer Tatunashvili’s body to the Georgian authorities for conducting forensic examination to establish the cause and time of death, as well as to cooperate with Georgia for the effective investigation of the case", - The Public Defender mentions. In full  Source: The organization’s webpage

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) publishes information, according to which court found an offender guilty. The Tbilisi City Court found an offender guilty and sentenced him to 6 months imprisonment. Interests of a woman victim in this case were defended by GYLA. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Additional anti-discrimination legislative guarantees are introduced in labor relations, - ''Transparency International Georgia'' states in this regard. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. With the help of Georgian Democracy Initiative, the Tbilisi City Court issued a restraining order to protect a woman and her three children, victims of an offender husband (father). ''The Tbilisi City Court issued a restraining order for a maximum term of 6 months as stipulated by the Georgian legislation'' – is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:gdi.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association has complained against the authority of the municipal assembly that allows to dismiss a Mayor after 6 months from elections on the ground of distrust. ''By unjustified dismissal of a Mayor, elected by people through direct elections, the Assembly violates rights of both a person who holds a Mayor position and voters who elected this person to the position'' – is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Ministries of Internal Affairs and Education and Science of Georgia have presented draft legislative amendments to the Law of Georgia on General Education. According to authors of the bill, along with other amendments, the proposed initiative aims at modifying and enhancing functions of a School Resource Officer service, as a result of which actions safety at schools should be improved. "Coalition for Children and Youth” welcomes the efforts of state agencies to take steps towards improvement of preventive mechanisms, however, considers that the proposed bill has certain gaps as presented. Read more… Source:https://phrgeorgia.wordpress.com

Tbilisi. Prosecutor's Office Reopens Investigation into Alleged Ill-treatment following Public Defender's Recommendation. The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia ended the investigation into the alleged ill-treatment of citizen D.P. in November 2017 on the motive of absence of crime. The Public Defender welcomes the decision of the Prosecutor's Office and assesses it positively, as she considers that the ineffective investigation of the cases of ill-treatment is one of the most problematic issues in terms of protection of human rights. In full  Source: The organization’s webpage

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association addresses the National Communications Commission against the Public Broadcaster. LEPL Public Broadcaster refused to broadcast a social advertisement prepared by the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association aiming at informing population about the necessity of amendments to the Code of Offences, adopted in 1984. Mentioned normative act does not meet the requirements of a fair process and entails violation of fundamental rights of a number of individuals every day. The Public Broadcaster is obliged to provide free of charge and nondiscriminatory at least 60 seconds in 1 hour to a social advertisement submitted by interested individuals for broadcasting purposes” – is noted in the statement of GYLA. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. "Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary” responds to the bill, which is prepared by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and aims at creating a State Inspector Service. "According to the bill, the new service will be established as a replacement of a personal data protection inspector and, along with current functions of the latest, the service will assume authority to perform investigation of crimes of specific type acting as a representative, officer or alike of a law enforcement body” – the statement reads, - "The Coalition retains hope that in regard to the presented bill there will be a possibility to have argumentative debates and discussions on both technical/formal issues and principles level in order to make correct and rational decision on fundamental issues in the first place. In the presented document the Coalition draws attention on specifically those issues, which in our opinion have principle importance for establishment of an effective and independent investigation service that will be an adequate response to today's challenges”. Read more… Source:https://gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia once again expresses sorrow over the death of minors as a result of the conflict that took place on Khorava Street on December 1, 2017. It is known to the public that Tbilisi City Court has started closed consideration of the case on the merits. Consequently, on February 7, 2018, due to the sensitivity of the case, taking into account the interests of underage defendants and victims, the Public Defender appealed to Tbilisi City Court with a request to be allowed to attend the trial. In full  Source: The organization’s webpage

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations respond to an issue of lifetime appointment of judges. As they point out, in this process, cases of suspension of a member of the Council and closure of a process of interviews have taken the form of tendency. ''Once again there has been revealed an organized attempt of an influential group of judges to hinder appointment of judges on the basis of critical review of their past activities and competence'' - the statement reads. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. ''Coalition for Equality'' addresses the Parliament of Georgia and demands improvement of legislation related to discrimination. ''We consider that proposed amendments can not solve existing challenges of effective execution of anti-discrimination legislation and, thus, further amendments are needed'' – is noted in the statement. Read more... Source:gyla.ge