The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary is concerned about recent developments which demonstrated disrespect of political forces and certain public groups towards judicial independence and rule of law thereby threatening independence of important constitutional institutions in the country. On September 18, 2015 Giorgi Papuashvili, President of the Constitutional Court of Georgia made a media statement according to which certain judges and their family members are under pressure coming from threatening statements by different groups of citizens gathered in front of the judges’ private homes. Giorgi Papuashvili believes that the reason for the pressure directed against the Constitutional Court judges is that the Constitutional Court has upheld Giorgi Ugulava’s appeal. In addition to this statement, the media have been circulating declarations of representatives of certain civil groups, which threaten judges.
2015-09-21 13:15 See moreOn September 16, 2015 the Constitutional Court of Georgia announced its ruling in Giorgi Ugulava’s case. We issue this statement in light of the recent developments around the case. Over the past two days there have been different reports about involvement and participation of Judge Merab Turava in the Court’s deliberations of the complaint. The Constitutional Court was scheduled to announce its decision on September 15, 2015, but the announcement was delayed after Merab Turava failed to appear to sign the ruling, citing health problems. The court then clarified that it was not authorized to announce the ruling without signatures of all judges presiding over the case, which was followed by Turava’s ambiguous and vain arguments to justify his absence. On September 16, after Turava ultimately refused to sign the document, the court made the decision to announce the ruling in absence of his signature.
2015-09-17 15:15 See moreOn September 15, 2015, during the visit of Prime Minister in Ozurgeti, members of the United National Movement (UNM) hung up a fabric banner on façade of one of the buildings in Ozurgeti bearing words “Government is a liar”. This was followed by immediate arrest of UNM members Davit Mzhavanadze and Ilia Malazonia, as well as a member of NGO Free Zone, Beso Katamadze by Ozurgeti Police under para.2, Article 150 of the Code of Administrative Offences – Making various types of inscriptions, drawings or symbols on building facades, shop windows, fences, columns, trees or other plantings without authorization, also putting up placards, slogans, banners at places not allocated for this purpose, or leaving fences and buildings unpainted, committed repeatedly, which carries a fine of 500 laris. Authorities drew up corresponding protocol of administrative offence but the detainees allege that they never received a copy of the document.
2015-09-16 18:03 See moreOn September 15, 2015, during the visit of Prime Minister in Ozurgeti, members of the United National Movement (UNM) hung up a fabric banner on façade of one of the buildings in Ozurgeti bearing words “Government is a liar”. This was followed by immediate arrest of UNM members Davit Mzhavanadze and Ilia Malazonia, as well as a member of NGO Free Zone, Beso Katamadze by Ozurgeti Police under para.2, Article 150 of the Code of Administrative Offences – Making various types of inscriptions, drawings or symbols on building facades, shop windows, fences, columns, trees or other plantings without authorization, also putting up placards, slogans, banners at places not allocated for this purpose, or leaving fences and buildings unpainted, committed repeatedly, which carries a fine of 500 laris. Authorities drew up corresponding protocol of administrative offence but the detainees allege that they never received a copy of the document.
2015-09-16 12:12 See moreCoalition for Media Advocacy wrote a letter to the General Director and the Chairperson of the Public Broadcaster, inquiring about the broadcaster’s interpretation of conflict of interests and its practice of the Code of Conduct, with reference to the dismissal of Eka Mishveladze as Pirveli Studia talk show host and selective application of regulations of conflict of interests.
2015-09-11 18:33 See moreWith the help from GYLA’s office in Kutaisi, two beneficiaries were relieved of administrative liability With the help from lawyers in GYLA’s office in Kutaisi, two beneficiaries were relieved of administrative liability and released on warning. One beneficiary had been accused of illegally restricting public areas based on a protocol of violation prepared by a representative of Kutaisi City Hall’s Architecture and Supervision Service. Another beneficiary had been accused of defacement of appearance of a self-governing entity.
2015-09-11 11:05 See moreWith the help from GYLA’s office in Kutaisi, two beneficiaries were relieved of administrative liability With the help from lawyers in GYLA’s office in Kutaisi, two beneficiaries were relieved of administrative liability and released on warning. One beneficiary had been accused of illegally restricting public areas based on a protocol of violation prepared by a representative of Kutaisi City Hall’s Architecture and Supervision Service. Another beneficiary had been accused of defacement of appearance of a self-governing entity.
2015-09-11 11:05 See moreHost of public broadcaster talk show Pirveli Studia publicly confirmed reports about her and her spouse, one of the leaders of an opposition party Free Democrats, Aleksi Petriashvili being under surveillance. Few days ago it was reported that Eka Mishveladze’s talk show on public broadcaster was closed. On September 4, Advisor to the Public Broadcaster’s Director General, Basa Potskhishvili made a statement about Eka Mishveladze’s conflict of interest because of her marriage to Aleksi Petriashvili. The Public Defender has not yet officially commented on the issue.
2015-09-09 17:30 See moreThis Affects You Too – They Are Still Listening Campaign urges the law enforcement authorities to launch a probe based on Eka Mishveladze’s statement On October 8, while being a guest of Rustavi 2 talk show Archevani, journalist Eka Mishveladze stated that she was under surveillance.
2015-09-09 17:20 See moreThe present statement has been issued in reaction to the document published on official website of Khulo Sakrebulo, titled ‘Report by the chairman of the fraction Georgian Dream-Demoractic Georgia in Khulo’s Municipal Council about previous work implemented’, containing hate speech and displaying anti-Armenian sentiments. In particular, the document contains negative reerences to the alleged Armenian origin of Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia and current Governor of Odessa Oblast of Ukraine:
2015-09-08 11:29 See more