Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers' Association released a statement in Response to the Presidential Pardon of Tengiz Gunava. "Under the presidential order issued on July 30, 2013, convict Tengiz Gunava was granted a pardon and his criminal record was expunged, which has raised certain questions about lawfulness and fairness of the president’s decision. In view of the high public interest, we would like to address some of the key issues involved in the pardoning of Tengiz Gunava", says the statement. For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy Filed in Court. Pursuant to the amendments made to the Law on 2013 Rebpublican Budget of Adjara Autonomous Republic, budget income of Adjara A/R was increased with GEL 14722700 (fourteen million seven hundred twenty-two thousand and seven hundred), including GEL 13 554 400 (thirteen million five hundred fifty-four thousand and four hundred) allocated for infrastructure and social projects. "We welcome any infrastructure and healthcare initiatives; however, the authorities must determine priorities in the process of planning the budget to increase of the budget expanses during pre-election period in violation of applicable legislation", says organization's web-page.  For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia released a blog post - "Changes to the Criminal Procedure Code: deferred or a real reform?" "It would seem that deferring Criminal Procedure Code changes is becoming a tendency. The government bases its deferral of the new regulation which gives additional rights to the defense on the argument that the law enforcement bodies are not ready for new norms. However, it is unclear what kind of preparation is needed for the implementation of these two crucial norms", says a blog post. For full text  Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers' Association applies to the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia about the case of Giorgi Gvichiani. "In this light, we ask you to take adequate further actions within the frames of your competence for a timely and effective investigation of allegations to determine whether crime has been committed by hiding findings of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. If the investigation finds that crime has been committed, G. Gvichiani sentenced to life imprisonment will have an opportunity to have his case reexamined in light of the new evidence". For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. "The Georgian Democracy Initiative expresses its concern on the events that took place in the city of Zugdidi on July 20, 2013, and in Batumi on July 21 and on the inadequate response to the incidents by law enforcement bodies", says the organization's web-page.  Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) calls upon the law enforcement bodies to respond immediately and effectively to each such manifestation of violence, make an appropriate legal assessment of acts committed by law enforcers, and qualify them adequately, as well as to apply adequate sanctions. For full text Source:gdi.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association expresses a concern over the July 20-21 incidents in Zugdidi and Batumi and calls on all parties of political process to say no to violence. "GYLA urges individual citizens – to say no to violent expression of protest. We realize that individuals who were present at the rally could have been victims of past violence and injustice; however, there are no legal grounds that would justify their violent actions. Believing otherwise would promote similar actions, which would clearly be harmful to interests of the country", says the organization's web-page. For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Two NGOs – Club Free Zone and Public Union Its Time complain in self-regulatory body against the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB).  Both NGOs have pretensions against 24 June report aired by Moambe newscast that related to the mentioned non-governmental organizations. The complained lodged by the NGOs reads that in the report Club Free Zone and Public Union Its Time were mentioned as satellite organizations of Parliamentary minority, National Movement. NGOs claim that they have no affiliation with any political parties and they believe that the journalist has harshly violated the ethics code, did not double-check the information and misinformed the viewers. For full text Source:media.ge

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations call upon the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Finance to adhere to the criminal procedure rules. "The actions of the Finance Ministry’s Investigation Department contain signs of possible criminal offence; this casts a shadow on the credibility of the ongoing investigation. We therefore call on all law enforcement agencies to restrain from violating the Criminal Procedure Code requirements in the future and furthermore to conduct an impartial and effective investigation of these facts". For full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA released Summary Analysis of Court Proceedings brought against Rally Participants arrested on May 1 on charges of Administrative Offence. "We remain hopeful that the government will apply the lessons learned during the May 1, 2013 incident in the future, and will provide an opportunity for everyone to fully realize their rights to assembly and manifestation as guaranteed by the constitution", says the statement. For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. EC acquired responsibility to return the money back to losing candidates after the Constitutional Court of Georgia upheld the constitutional lawsuit of Human Rights Center and annulled the provision of the Election Code which obliged the candidate nominated by the initiative group to transfer 5 000 lari to the CEC account as a deposit. Four majoritarian candidates, who lost interim elections, received 5 000 lari back, which they had transferred to the CEC account before elections. For full text  Source:humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA released "Cases Successfully Litigated in May". Beneficiaries of GYLA’s legal aid were not imposed with administrative liability, Beneficiary of GYLA’s legal aid - a victim of political repression to receive a pecuniary compensation, GYLA’s beneficiary K.M. was able to protect his own rights and etc.  For full text  Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA has released the statement on reforming prosecutor’s office of Georgia.  "The key issue, that needs to be attained within the framework of the reform, is to ensure political neutrality of the prosecutor’s office. To this effect, removal of the criminal persecution and prosecutorial supervision functions from the Ministry of Justice is a decisive step”, says the statement.  For full text  Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Children and Youth Development Fund organizes the European Union Law Moot Court competition for the students of Georgian higher education institutions. The competition will be held in English. For the full text Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has released the statement on the investigation of the Lapankuri special operation case. GYLA believes that in respect of the special operation conducted in the Lopota Gorge on 28 August 2012, "current investigation does not meet the requirements of objective, effective and independent investigation, and therefore we call on the investigative authorities to timely remedy the existing gaps." For the full text Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. NGOs echo the amendments to be made to the Criminal Procedure Code and call on the Parliament of Georgia to secure at the legislative level the effective guarantees of exercise of the right to defense. "The original version of the draft law initiated by the Government of Georgia included the necessary and significant guarantees for carrying out effective defense... By two hearings the Parliament of Georgia has adopted this draft law in a significantly modified form,” says the statement. In the opinion of signatory NGOs, adoption of the law in this form will hinder the effective exercise of the right to defense, "which by itself will considerably lower the degree of exercise of justice in our country.” The Statement. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The court hearing was held on April 29, at which the court examined the law suit of "Transparency International – Georgia" against the Ministry of Finances of Georgia. As the organization's page notes, the "dispute is about the Order of the Minister of Finances of Georgia issued on 25 January 2013, enactment of which has caused substantial damages to the cargo carriers." According to the organization, the representatives of the Ministry of Finances have moved before the court to adjourn the hearing, as according to their information, the Ministry has already set up the working group drafting the amendments to the disputed act. For the full text (geo) Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. NGOs have released the statement concerning the planned amendments to the Organic Law on the Constitutional Court. "We would like to call on the Parliament of Georgia to hold public consultations with the Constitutional Court concerning the increase of examination terms prior to voting on the draft Law, while to replace the blanket norm with the court's discretionary powers," says the statement. For the full text. Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association and the organization "Penal Reform International" welcome the initiatives of the Georgian authorities in respect of liberalization of the criminal justice. At the same time, organizations focus on the issues in the draft Law that in their opinion require improvement. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center has released the statement on the investigation of the August War. "The Human Rights Center calls on the Government of Georgia to timely fulfill undertaken obligations. At the same time, it would like to address once again the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Court with the request to launch official investigation into the crimes committed during the 2008 conflict in Georgia, should the investigations at national level prove to be inefficient," says the statement. For the full text. Source: npo.ge

Tbilisi.The brochure and the map titled "Free legal aid centers in Georgia" were published with financial support of the UN Development Program (UNDP). The documents promote access of the self-defending persons to a qualified legal service. "Free legal aid centers in Georgia". Source: page of the Georgian courts in the social network.

Adjara. On March 29, the Adjara-based NGOs released a special statement on yesterday's incident between the GYLA employees and the Head of the Chief Department of Adjara. "General Inspection of the Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office do not seem to have enough will to establish objective reality as to what had happened yesterday in the Griboedov Street. Moreover, with "enviable" efficiency, i.e. prior to the completion of questioning of the GYLA employees, the Ministry of Interior has announced the GYLA employees as offenders", says the statement. For the full text.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has released another statement in relation to the incident in Batumi. GYLA expresses concern about the disseminated information, according to which the authentic evidence depicting the evidence - video material - was destroyed. "We believe that this case tests the approach of the Ministry of Interior towards the offences committed by its own employees", says the statement. In view of the importance of above circumstances, GYLA demands a meeting with the Minister of Interior. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge