Tbilisi. According to information of the Human Rights Center, three years have passed today since disappearance of Soso Osorauli, a Georgian pilot. “During this time, the state has not taken active steps and apply effective measures to release Soso Osorauli from captivity and return him to his homeland. The Human Rights Center calls on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Prosecutor General to take effective steps to return Soso Osorauli to his homeland. Besides, the Human Rights Center urges the Office of the Prosecutor General to issue a ruling and recognize the family of Soso Osorauli as a victim”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: www.humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. According to a statement of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics detected violation of the principle of inviolability of private life in an entertainment program. “On January 25, the Charter of Journalistic Ethics detected violation of principles of discrimination and inviolability of private life in “Gviani Show”, a program of the broadcasting company “Rustavi 2”. This case is precedential as the Charter discussed the use of a hidden camera in an entertainment program and violation of the 10th (inviolability of private life) principle for the first time. Interests of the applicant were defended by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to grave cases of discrediting the Public Defender by the Minister of Justice of Georgia and calls on the Government of Georgia to study political responsibility of the Minister and to make sure the Public Defender has guarantees for effective and independent activity. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia would like to respond to the illegal public disclosure of the details of the Public Defender's meeting with inmates by the Special Penitentiary Service/Ministry of Justice on January 23, 2020. “The identities of persons met by the Public Defender or his/her representatives shall be confidential and its disclosure represents interference with the Public Defender's activities for the purpose of influencing him/her and hampering his/her work. The mentioned represents an offense under Article 352 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. Yesterday's statement was the continuation of a campaign of political attack launched by the Minister of Justice of Georgia against the Public Defender’s institution. It is dangerous and inadmissible that the Minister of Justice uses a body such as the Special Penitentiary Service, where persons with different political views are serving their sentences, for political purposes”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) releases a statement and demands registration of plots of agricultural land for eco-migrants relocated from Adjara to the Khikhani village. “There are unbearable social and economic conditions in the village. The primary problem of the local community is inaccessibility of land and water resources. Local population have no agricultural land other than homestead land resources, which fact deprives them of the opportunity to develop small-scale agriculture locally. In addition to this there is no irrigation system in the village”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. On January 22, 2020, the Public Defender addressed the State Inspector with a request to examine the lawfulness of public disclosure of video footage by the Minister of Justice at the sitting of the Parliament’s Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration on January 21, 2020. “Two of the video recordings depicted certain episodes of the meeting between the Public Defender’s representatives and prisoners at the penitentiary establishments. On the same day, the videos were posted on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Justice as well. The faces of the Public Defender’s representatives were not blurred out in the publicly available videos and they can be easily identified. It is noteworthy that the Organic Law of Georgia on the Public Defender of Georgia prohibits any kind of video-audio surveillance of a meeting between the Public Defender's representatives and prisoners by the Ministry of Justice”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. According to the statement of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), the State Inspector should immediately launch an investigation in videos released by the Minister of Justice. “Showing video recordings publicly threatens credibility of the mandate of the Public Defender and implementation of her constitutional authority. It is also noteworthy that the alleged violation is committed by a state-political official and disseminated recordings have been broadcasted publicly. In view of the above, we consider it is necessary that the State Inspector start an investigation”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organizations release a joint statement.  “We would like to express our concern over non-constructive criticism of Tea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Justice of Georgia, in regard to publicizing video material of a monitoring of the National Prevention Mechanism at Public Defender’s Office of Georgia and an expert of the mentioned Mechanism. This act, on the one hand, grossly violates principles defined by Georgian legislation, while on the other hand, contradicts international obligations committed by Georgia. We consider that this act of the Minister of Justice of Georgia should serve as a basis for her political responsibility”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by Transparency International – Georgia, on June 20-21, court applied administrative imprisonment and solid fines against detainees without proper justification and evidences thus neglecting the right to a fair trial. The same practice has been experienced against people detained during subsequent rallies. “In the circumstances, when the fact of offense cannot be substantiated by concrete evidences, imposition of such sanctions by the court may be perceived as a desire of authorities to use penalty for achieving a stinging effect in order to weaken a protest movement and force critically disposed part of the society to refrain from using the right to assembly and manifestations in the future”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a blog post: State has no information about the number of homeless people. “The sole function of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia defined by legislation within the field of the policy of homelessness is to maintain a unified registry of homeless people registered at local self-government bodies, however this duty is not performed in practice. Considering all this, it is impossible to determine the scale of homelessness in the country”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA has submitted its assessment report to the Parliament of Georgia, which is related to the bill on the amendment to the “Law of Georgia on Information Security”, initiated by Irakli Sesiashvili, Member of Parliament.  “The bill allows the operative-technical agency to have a direct access to information possessed by public agencies, including personal data and network sensors, while in the case of information shared through internet service providers – an indirect access, which fact will enable the agency to control any information spread through the Internet.  It is also noteworthy that the process of revision of this bill is carried out with substantial violations as it envisages important grounds for restriction of fundamental rights, while the Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration is not part of the process as a mandatory committee. In view of the above, we call on the Parliament of Georgia to carry out the legislative process with the involvement of all relevant committees, not allow the bill to be adopted in the proposed form and ensure the review of the bill is carried out only through broad public engagement and discussion”, - is stated in the report.  Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) evaluates conditions in which Archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze is. “EMC considers that Giorgi Mamaladze should have an opportunity to receive adequate medical treatment outside the penitentiary institution and return to the place of imprisonment in the case if his health condition improves”, - is noted in the statement of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Tbilisi City Hall has filed a complaint in the Court of Appeals against a Tbilisi City Court decision that obliges it to install warning banners and barriers at one of the most dangerous areas around the Tbilisi Sea where several juveniles have drowned in recent years. So called waterfall area is a “death zone” at the Tbilisi Sea, where swimming is particularly dangerous and prohibited, however citizens neither are informed about it nor confront any insurmountable barrier. Tbilisi City Hall refuses to enforce the decision of the court and considers that it is not responsible for prevention of such accidents in the city. Human Rights Center prepared a counter-appeal in response to the appeal of Tbilisi City Hall. Read more…

Ajara. On 20 December 2019, the Constitutional Court of Georgia accepted the constitutional claim of the Public Defender of Georgia for consideration on its merits, relating to the constitutionality of the rule applied by the High Council of Justice for the selection of Supreme Court candidates to be submitted to the Parliament of Georgia. The constitutional lawsuit disputes the procedure of secret ballot for selecting Supreme Court candidates by the High Council of Justice, as it does not require substantiation of a candidate's eligibility. Read more…  Source: http://ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Special Preventive Group of the Public Defender of Georgia conducted monitoring in penitentiary establishments N2, N8, N14 and N15 in July and August 2019. Visits were made to the largest semi-open and closed facilities.  The systemic and characterizing aspects of each institution were analyzed in a complex manner, based on the information obtained during monitoring.  Read more…  Source: http://ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. EMC makes a statement about the challenges in terms of the protection of the rights of religious minorities.  ‘This year, initiatives aimed at worsening the legislative standards and safeguards related to the Freedom of Religion have found their way in the agenda (including the adoption of a special law on religion, ban on Muslim women to wear religious paraphernalia, initiative to scrap military exemptions for the non-dominant religious clerics from joining compulsory military service). These initiatives were suspended largely due to the advocacy by religious organizations and human rights actors’, - is mentioned in the statement.  Read more…  Source: https://emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center demands timely and effective investigation of alleged crime committed by Chief of Police and other police officers of Lagodekhi. The Kakheti office of the Human Rights Center defends Tariel Sheitnishvili, who got detained by the police administratively on December 1 for resisting police. During the arrest police officers used physical force, as a result of which health condition of Tariel Sheitnichvili was seriously affected.  The Human Rights Center urges Investigative Department of the State Inspector’s Service to timely and effectively investigate the alleged fact of violence and humiliating treatment committed by the police. Read more… Source: http://www.humanrights.ge

Shida Kartli. Today Public Defender met with schoolchildren of Shida Kartli Villages to discuss the importance and role of human rights education, as well as the activities and mandate of the Public Defender in this process. The Public Defender discussed the constantly increasing dangers and challenges relating to the protection of human rights, the forms of receiving information about human rights violations and responding to them, as well as supervision of implantation of Public Defender’s recommendations and the mechanism of applying to the Public Defender’s Office. Read more…  Source: http://ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a blog post: Dire human rights situation existing in the occupied territories. “It should be noted that despite a lot of recommendations provided by actors working on human rights, the Georgian government has not applied to the European Court of Human Rights to use a provisional measure (Article 39 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Court) in response to the dire situation occurred in Akhalgori and predominantly uses just political and diplomatic mechanisms, which have not resulted in any significant outcome so far”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by a part of civil society organizations, mobilization of citizens for a rally, planned by “Georgian Dream” on December 14, is carried out under the pressure on public officials at municipalities. “Signatory organizations call on the ruling party and high-ranking officials of local self-governments to prevent any form of pressure/coercion against public servants and those employed at municipalities, vulnerable citizens that may force them to participate in the rally. Besides, ensure separation of the planned party event from public service as well as self-government activities as much as possible and refrain from misleading citizens about the planned event”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. The coalition for an independent and Transparent Judiciary applied to the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Mr. Clement Nyaletsossi Voule. “The letter describes the shortcomings of the code of the administrative offences of Georgia, which restricts the freedom of peaceful assembly and expression”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Partnership for Human Rights (PHR), with the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, prepared a report “Promote equal environment for people with disabilities and the elderly”.  The purpose of the report is to review problems, existing in institutional or legislative terms, as well as challenges related to mental health, institutions for disabled and boarding houses for the elderly that people with disabilities and the elderly face. Read more… Source: phrgeorgia.wordpress.com