Yesterday media outlets released a statement of the Minister of Justice saying that “on the very first day of the so-called tractors case I said that I believed in the truth of Kirvalidze and his team before law.” This has raised the question of whether the Minister of Justice could have had a positive legal influence on criminal proceedings instituted against the defendants if she believed from the very first day in their innocence.
2014-02-10 00:21 See moreThe undersigned organizations welcome the initiative of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Protection on initiation of the monitoring of Residential Childcare Institutions. According to the information released by the Ministry, the monitoring will cover all the institutions including the children’s homes under the Patriarchate. It aims to determine compliance of the institutions with childcare standards established in Georgia.
2014-02-07 04:54 See moreWe, Transparency International Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, believe that the amendments proposed to the Inter-factional Working Group by the ruling party are not enough to create a fair voting system for the upcoming municipal elections. We regret that the Inter-factional Working Group did not view reform of the electoral system as a priority to ensure fair and equal elections.
2014-02-05 03:22 See more"Media Advocacy Coalition believes that the competition for selection of the Public Defender for Protection of Customers' Rights under GNCC lacked transparency." As per the law on "National Regulation Bodies", the public defender shall be selected through the open competition. Nevertheless, the announced competition ended without publication of the competition commission or the list of the applicants. Information on the conducted competition is not available on the official website of the Parliament so far. Furthermore, interviewing process have also been conducted non-transparently.
2014-02-03 06:10 See moreOn January 17, 2014 the Ministry of Justice disclosed the settlement agreement and its additional documents made between the successors of Arkadi (Badri) Patarkatsishvili and Georgia in the international arbitration. In the arbitration, A.P.’s family members requested to be given ownership of “Imedi” TV and that the lease on Mtatsminda Park be reinstated, or in the alternative, sought compensation in the amount of 400 million USD. As mentioned, the arbitration ended with settlement under certain conditions between A.P.’s successors and Georgia.
2014-02-03 01:51 See moreProtection of cultural heritage by Law is state’s constitutional obligation. Accordingly, the state shall undertake all necessary measures with a view to protect and maintain it for future generation. For the past period media aired actively developments around prehistoric goldmine discovered and examined by German and Georgian scientists on the territory of Bolnisi municipality located on Sakdrisi-Kachagiani hill. Part of the scientists insist on uniqueness of the goldmine considering it the oldest among the discovered, prehistoric gold mines in the world, dated back to IV-III millennia B.C.
2014-01-30 05:42 See moreYesterday video footage was released through social networks and mass media illustrating how the former Minister of Interior addresses representatives of the task force with the following words: “I need two men, two corpses, bring me these two corpses, that’s it, the reward is going to be big.” Moreover, the video footage also reflects other high state officials, including Mikhail Saakashvili, the ex-president of Georgia. As reported, the video footage demonstrates the special operation carried out against participants of the Mukhrovani riot in 2009. As a result Gia Krialashvili died and two other individuals were wounded seriously. Some other participants of the riot were brought to justice and received guilty verdict.
2014-01-30 04:57 See moreOne of the key directions of GYLA’s activities is monitoring of the operation of law enforcement agencies. Based on the received information we used to demand launch of investigation on the alleged police offences. GYLA especially focuses on the cases where citizens report about physical or other type of violence from the side of law enforcement representative. We regret that in nearly all cases with alleged police offence investigation either did not start or started with delay and was conducted inadequately and ineffectively. Obviously, such attitude creates high risk of increasing such offences.
2014-01-29 04:58 See moreThe draft has been initiated in the Parliament aiming to introduce number of amendments to the Imprisonment Code. The author of the Code is the Ministry of Corrections of Georgia and the initiator is the government of Georgia. GYLA along with other NGOs had opportunity to participate in the working process on the draft and to submit its opinions prior to initiation of the document. The organization evaluates number of amendments positively, while certain changes received negative assessment. GYLA intends to submit its written opinions to the Parliament in the nearest future.
2014-01-28 01:59 See moreOn January 23, 2013 the Parliament of Georgia held the second stage of the voting process for selection of the candidates of GPB Board of Trustees. As a result, four candidates were selected on 9 vacant positions.
2014-01-27 07:30 See more