Tbilisi. The Public Defender considers that the bill drafted by the office of the Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia, discussion of which started last week, cannot fully respond to the challenges in the current critical situation in the country.

"When developing a legislative framework for this important judicial issue, it is important that the local context and actual challenges be taken into consideration. The Public Defender will necessarily send her detailed opinions to the Venice Commission and they will hopefully be considered”, - The Public Defender mentions, - "We are also addressing the OSCE Institute for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) to make an additional legal assessment of the draft law. The Public Defender of Georgia, as a national human rights institution, is authorized to address the OSCE Institute for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which is authorized to submit opinions and comments concerning the draft law in order to assess its compliance with international human rights standards and the obligations undertaken by the state before the OSCE. The court-related issues fall under the OSCE mandate. The organization has prepared a number of opinions in this direction in the past. We hope that it will be possible to prepare and submit opinions about the above-mentioed draft law in an accelerated manner”.

Source: The webpage of organization