Tbilisi. The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary has left the Parliamentary Speaker’s working group for designing Supreme Court Justice selection procedures and criteria because the format did not serve as a means for discussing genuine legislative changes, which are to ensure a merit-based approach to the selection process and its transparent and impartial conduct. ''Unfortunately, the position expressed by the Parliamentary Speaker makes it clear that he objects to the above key issues, which are central to ensuring genuine legislative changes and staffing the highest court of the land via an objective and open process. The Parliamentary Speaker has a principled position regarding voting, and the formula he offers gives the dominant clan in the judiciary a full possibility to determine the nomination of specific candidates in the name of the HCOJ all by itself. This position again illustrates the Parliamentary Speaker’s and the ruling party’s unconditional support for the clan'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: osgf.ge

Tbilisi. On the Day 4 of the Winter School of Justice of 2019, the participants were provided an opportunity to discuss and debate the recent case-law of the Constitutional Court of Georgia, as well as other problematic issues of the constitutional review together with the Judge of the Constitutional Court of Georgia, Teimuraz Tugushi. ''The Deputy Head of the Legal Research and Provision Department of the Constitutional Court, Levan Maisuradze provided workshop on constitutional referral institution and participants worked on improvement of their skills while drafting a referral on a hypotetical case. In the second half of the day, Keti Abashidze gave lectures on introduction to the EU Law and talked specifically about non-discrimination law. Issues related to the different aspects of non-discrimination principle and its regulation under various jurisdictions is one of the central topics of the Winter School'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The page in the social network

Tbilisi. On February 26, 2019, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association held a presentation of the report - "Prevention of ill-treatment and response to the occurred facts”. "The report analyzes the cases of ill-treatment that GYLA has identified in 2017-2018. The existing deficiencies in the legislation that essentially hinder the effective response to the facts of ill-treatment cases and their prevention are also reviewed in the report. The report includes analysis of 12 criminal cases ongoing in Tbilisi, Gori and Batumi, in which GYLA got involved in 2017-2018", is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a joint letter to to Diplomatic Missions. ''Georgian population has experienced unfair justice practices on the large-scale throughout its history. Society is fully aware that at present vital decisions are being made regarding the justice system. Unfortunately, latest developments on the subject have demonstrated that the steps taken were not sufficient for the creation of strong and independent judiciary'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International Georgia'' presents a review of ratings of international authoritative organizations, annual reports and evaluations of international partners. ''The Heritage Foundation published the 2019 Index of Economic Freedom, according to which condition of effectiveness of court in Georgia decreased by 9.6 percent in comparison with that in the previous year. With this indicator, in 2019, Georgia has mostly moved to the rank of non-free countries'', - is stated in the blogpost. Read more… Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia reacts on the investigation against the founders of TBC Bank. ''An investigation launched by the Prosecutor’s Office against Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, the founders of TBC Bank, on a case of alleged money laundering together with other crimes that could be committed 10 years ago and disinformation campaign allegedly orchestrated by the ruling party-backed sponsored social network pages created a logical assumption that the mentioned investigation could be biased'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On February 12, there was conducted a working meeting on issues regarding employment of people in conflict with law, at which meeting CiDA and business representatives reviewed specific issues related to working with people in conflict with law. Besides, they also discussed barriers that prevent these people from starting work and continuing career. At the meeting, there was made a presentation of a handbook elaborated by CiDA - What we should know and consider while employing people in conflict with law. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Today, on February 13, the Constitutional Court of Georgia begins essential review of a lawsuit of ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) regarding constitutionality of police raid. A statement in this regard is released by EMC. ''In the submitted lawsuit, EMC argues that the current form of police raid violates constitutional guarantees for free development, inviolability of dignity and protection of privacy of an individual''. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Civil society has organized a large-scale meeting on a topic: How judiciary system can be saved. Together with non-governmental organizations, representatives of business, field of art, professional groups, including former judges, active members of society and politicians from both ruling and opposition parties have participated in the discussion. Read more... Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. An initiative group spreads a statement in response to a resolution of Georgian Dream of February 5, 2019. ''Society will continue to mobilize for liberation, recovery and real independence of the judiciary system. We shall not allow to bury the idea of court and shall unite our efforts to find justice in the hands of honest judges'', - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. December 2018, after the inauguration of the President of Georgia, marks also a commencement date for the new constitutional amendments. As a result of these changes, Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia was separated from the Ministry of Justice and became a fully independent agency. The head of the institution is the Prosecutor General, while independence, transparency, and effectiveness of the system are guaranteed by the Prosecutorial Council. ''The events surrounding the uninvestigated murder on the Khorava street in 2018 significantly tarnished the reputation of the Prosecutor’s Office and damaged already-low public trust in the institution. Due to these events, 2019 will be one of the most significant year for monitoring the institution’s activities. However, before doing so, it is essential to understand the amendments in the law and the legal realities at the onset of 2019'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. ''No to Phobia!'' platform demands to qualify murder of Vitali Safarov as a crime committed by a group. ''According to information available to lawyers, this fact is confirmed as by testimonies of witnesses of the crime, as well as by recordings made through surveillance video cameras, two guns indicated in the criminal case and wounds inflicted on the body of the victim. Respectively, criminal prosecution against this accused should be carried out not for failure to inform about the crime, but for complicity in a premeditated murder'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to facts of harassment committed by police against members and activists of the community opposing construction of a cascade of hydroelectric power plants in the Pankisi Gorge. The organization calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to refrain from practicing police control of local residents and arbitrary restriction of freedom of expression. Read more... Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. According to information of ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC), legal proceeding, initiated at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia against Malkhaz Machalikashvili in regard to the fact of administrative offense, has been terminated. Discussion is about investigation, launched by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia with the motive of administrative misconduct that took place on September 11, 2018 while erecting tents in front of the Parliament. Rights of Malkhaz Machalikashvili were defended by EMC. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary submitted recommendations regarding criteria and procedures for the selection of the Supreme Court justices to the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Chair of the Fourth Wave Judicial Reform Working Group. ''The Coalition believes that impartiality and transparency of the process of appointment of justices for the highest instance court can be ensured only in case of resignation of those judge and non-judge members of the High Council of Justice who supported submission of the list of the Supreme Court nominees to the Parliament of Georgia on December 24, 2018. The Coalition believes that the Supreme Court judicial candidates can only be selected by the renewed composition of the Council and the process shall resume after relevant legislative amendments are made'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary publishes a manifesto: To save justice. ''Since enactment of new edition of the Constitution in December 2018, the Georgian society faced a qualitatively new threat - a predominant group in court, which was a court control instrument in times of the previous government, has already been given a possibility to staff fully and permanently the highest and last instance court of the country. Respectively, there is a real danger that the society will lose the last hope of forming an independent court while the judiciary system will be ruled by a clan for decades”, - is stated on the website of ''Transparency International Georgia''. Read more... Source:www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes a blog post: Review of a new Batumi mosque construction case in court is still delayed. ''We consider that despite the problem of overloading of courts, the court violates all reasonable deadlines for reviewing the dispute in the present case'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Discussion of the case of femicide sent from Georgia to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is underway. The case is one of the incidents that occurred in 2014 when a former husband has murdered a woman as a result of domestic violence. The woman has addressed to the law enforcement agencies for violence, but they did not take appropriate measures to prevent the femicide. Furthermore, there has not been any investigation and punishment of the case of femicide as a gender crime. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) has filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court. EMC considers that norms of legislation, which, on the one hand, significantly complicate the process of granting a status of victim to a person, while on the other hand, substantially restrict participation of a victim in a criminal proceeding, even in the case when the status is granted, are unconstitutional. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) sues Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairman of the Parliament, for restricting freedom of expression. ''The case concerns restriction of critical views of Mariam Dolidze, protected through freedom of expression, by Irakli Kobakhidze on his official Facebook page. With mentioned lawsuit GDI demands from Irakli Kobakhidze to unblock the plaintiff on the official Facebook page'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:gdi.ge

Tbilisi. ''Media Advocacy Coalition'' responds to statements made in regard to legislative amendments related to defamation. ''According to a statement of the President of Georgia, there is a necessity of legislation that ensures both more protection of human dignity and freedom of speech. While the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia has stated that there should start a discussion to settle problems of not only defamation, but also heavy insult and frequented swearing. We are quite convinced that any legislative amendment, worsening an existing standard of freedom of expression, will threaten democratic development of the country'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:qartia.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition is calling on the Parliament to immediately elaborate rules for the selection of the Supreme Court judges. ''We believe that in view of the Supreme Court’s importance and role, its judges have to meet higher standards compared to the first and second instance judges. The Supreme Court has to include professionals, who are not only knowledgeable and experienced but also highly reputable in professional circles and the larger society. The judges, who are not trusted in the society and are not distinguished for an honest and impartial attitude to work, will not be able to ensure justice and will keep the judiciary in the state of the least trusted institution for decades thereby hampering the country’s democratic development'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge