Tbilisi. Young Barristers responds to the disclosure of the videos about torture and inhuman treatment, found in caches and spread through the Ukrainian media sources. The organization considers that "the political and legal responsibility of those individuals, who have perpetrated in the years 2003-2012, has to be prosecuted ... In full... Source:www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. On 19 October 2015 the Public Defender opened the Academy of Human Rights. ''The newly established Academy of Human Rights is a structural unit of the Public Defender’s Office and is aimed at deepening research and analytical skills as well as knowledge of the target groups in the field of legal and other aspects of human rights'', noted in the statement. In full... Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Non-Governmental Organizations release a joint statement regarding the process of promotion of judges, taking place at the High Council of Justice. ''Non-Governmental Organizations, undersigning the statement, consider the process negative, which is ongoing at the High Council of Justice and is related to the appointment of judges at the appeal court in a forced manner without competition'' – is noted in the statement. In full… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia responds to the videos, spread in the Ukraine. ''It is important that all individuals involved in the torture of people have been held responsible to the justice. Besides, the responsibility of those persons has to be subject to the justice too, who have taken part in the creation of mentioned system (torture and illegal eavesdropping of prisoners)'' – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On October 13, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, requested to authorize investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the August, 2008 war in Georgia.  ''The report on violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law during the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008 released by Georgian NGOs in 2009 will be used as one of the sources for investigation... Five local NGOs such as Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, Human Rights Center, Union ''21st Century'', Article 42 of Constitution, Center for Protection of Constitutional Rights prepared the report with the help of Open Society Georgia Foundation'', noted in the statement. In full... Source: www.osgf.ge

Tbilisi. According to the statement of ''Young Barristers'', the Constitutional Court intends to abolish the results of intermediate parliamentary elections, held on 31 October in Martvili and Sagarejo. ''Constitutional Court of Georgia will announce its next noisy decision in the coming days, which may strain political life in the country more'' – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes the blog post regarding the necessity of the protection of whistleblowers. The organization notes that "due to imperfect legislative regulations, civil servants, acting in favor of public interest, are unable to benefit from the legal guarantees stipulated for the protection of the whistleblowers” – is stated on the web-page of the organization. In full… Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The meeting has been held with civil society organizations at the First Republic Hall of the Parliament of Georgia. The meeting participants have discussed the project - "Awareness rising of the Human Rights Committee on issues related to the Association Agreement and strengthening its supervisory role in the implementation of the Action Plan on the Protection of Human Rights ". The information about the involvement into the project has been provided to the representatives of the third sector by the Chairman of the Board, the leader of "Young Barristers” and the project coordinator. The meeting has been attended by the organizations working on criminal justice. In full… Source:barristers.ge

Tbilisi. Young Barristers addressed an open letter to Ian Kelly, the Ambassador of the USA in Georgia and provided detailed information related to the disputed property of Giorgi Papuashvili, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Georgia. In full… Source:www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes the legal analysis of the draft law on "Public Service”, accepted through the second reading. "As a result of the adoption of the draft law the centralized system of management of public service will be strengthened and a fair mechanism of protection of professional public servants rights will be established” – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Non-Governmental Organizations respond to the arrest of the supporters of Rustavi 2 and to their pre-trial detention for two months. "We call on the government of Georgia and the law enforcement authorities to respect the freedom of gatherings and manifestations, recognized by the Constitution of Georgia, on one side, while on the other side to ensure proper and consistent response on violations, identical to each other, and base this on the fundamental principle of equality before the law” – is noted in the joint statement. In full… Source:gdi.ge

Tbilisi. The organization Young Barristers, in response to the social discussion about the so called "Narushilovka” or "violation permit”, evaluates the former Prime Minister, Bizina Ivanishvili’s statement.  ''We consider, that the investigation should be completed as soon as possible and offenders should be punished. Naturally, it is permissible, that certain authorized persons had "violation permit”, however it should be clearly specified in the normative document exactly who and when can use it. An Act should also be prepared in a timely manner, in order not to create a vacuum, affecting operational and investigative activities'', noted in the statement. In full... Source: www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. Young Barristers have examined the spending of the Constitutional Court of Georgia and have discussed the monitoring results. "According to the monitoring results the Constitutional Court of Georgia can be considered as one of the most consuming public institutions in Georgia. The funds, requested from the state budget by the Constitutional Court for salaries, premiums-additions and travel expenses are enormous and do not correspond to the socio-economic situation of the country” – is noted in the statement of the organization. In full… Source:www.barristers.ge

Tbilisi. As a result of signing the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, Georgia undertook a commitment to gradually harmonize its legislation with the EU law, which resulted in adoption of the Law on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination by the Parliament of Georgia on May 2, 2014. The law granted the Public Defender the function to supervise and eliminate discrimination. ''The report reviews the procedures of acceptance of applications/complaints by the Public Defender and final decision-making. The report also covers the characteristics of collection of evidences, distribution of the burden of proof, submission of amicus curiae briefs and conduction of oral hearings for achieving agreement between the parties", noted in the statement. In Full... Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association responds to the sitting of the Council of Justice, held on September 28. At the sitting, together with other important issues, the appointment / reappointment of judges on 68 vacant positions have been discussed. "According to the decision, as well as to its preceding process, it has become clear that the work of the Council of Justice is ineffective; with mentioned ineffectiveness the Council deepens challenges and problems existing in the judiciary system, solution of which challenges and problems the Council attempts to find through the decisions with fragmentary, unproven, subjective and questionable motives and not via systemic, well thought-out and proven approaches” – is noted in the statement. In full… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. On September 18, 2015 the Parliament of Georgia adopted the draft amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office on the third reading. The amendments constitute the reform of the Prosecutor’s Office which according to the Government of Georgia.  ''The Coalition’s position on the version of the draft adopted on the third reading is that despite certain positive changes, the goal of the draft law – to depoliticize the system – has not been achieved, because despite the Venice Commission opinion the presented changes are fragmental and are not concerned with major principles which in the future shall ensure effective independence of the Prosecutor’s Office'', noted in the statement. In fill... Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition for an ''Independent and Transparent Judiciary'' responds to the developments around the judiciary. ''We express our concern over the recent developments, which show obvious disrespect of political forces and different groups of society towards judicial independence and rule of law principles'' – noted in the statement. The Coalition calls on all political forces to refrain from statements that discredit the judiciary. In full… Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations responded recent developments surrounding the Constitutional Court of Georgia. ''We, the signatory non-governmental organizations, give a strictly negative assessment to the statements made by political officials about the Constitutional Court of Georgia and to the inappropriate response of public bodies to threats against the judges and their family members, which can be perceived as an attempt to put pressure on the Court'', noted in the joint statement. In full... Source: gdi.ge

Tbilisi. On September 14, in the conference hall of the National Library, the Human Rights Center has made the presentation of the report on "female and juvenile prisoners in Georgia”. The project has been implemented with the support of the Embassy of Bulgaria and in partnership with the Public Defender. The survey aimed to portray the situation of female and juvenile prisoners. Planned and unplanned visits were carried out at the Rustavi # 5 women penitentiary institution, the Tbilisi # 11 juvenile rehabilitation facility and the juvenile division of the Gldani # 8 penitentiary institution. In full… Source:humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. On September 15, 2015, the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia will consider legislative proposal related to property confiscations prepared by "Young Barrister”. New legislative proposal will extend statute of limitation for reopening court proceeding on the basis of newly discovered evidences and court decision abolishment from 5 to 15 years. New legislative changes will give real opportunity to the citizens, whose property had been confiscated to appeal to the court and factually have a chance to recover violated rights. Implementation of such an amendment would be a step forward to establishing justice and rule of law. The cases will be considered again, from the very beginning and the court will make a new judgment on the specific case, rather than appealing to the principle of common approach towards those, whose property had been confiscated. The organization believes, that 15 year statute of limitation for reopening court case is a reasonable term. In full... Source: barristers.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center releases its statement. The organization considers that "the discharge of Public Law legal entity religious unions from the obligation of provision of public information is unconstitutional”. On September 4 "the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC)” submitted an opinion of a friend of the court (amicus curiae) to the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutional claim (#618) - Giorgi Kekenadze, Nino Kvetenadze and Besik Gvenetadze vs. the Parliament of Georgia. In the current case the claimants argue about constitutionality of the statutory records of the Common Administrative Code with an Article 41 of the Georgian Constitution, which, within the budgetary funding, discharge religious unions with the status of Public Law legal entity from the obligation of provision of public information. In full... Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Tbilisi City Court partially satisfied the claim of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) related to the data about the administrative costs of the Ministry of Finance. Based on its application the organization requested different information about the administrative cost of the Ministry of Finance, however, "the feedback did not contain complete information as we requested. In particular, the majority of the responses of the Ministry of Finance was of the summery content and did not correspond to the requirements submitted by us”. In accordance with the decision of the court "the Ministry of Finance has been bound to provide information on seven out of eight claim requests (the claim has not been upheld only in the part, which concerns to the provision of the copies of work related letters, sent and received through the Minister’s business electronic mail)” – is noted in the statement. In full... Source:idfi.ge