On April 20, 2012 GYLA applied to Constitutional Court on behalf of Marina Kiku – Moldova citizen. GYLA demands to annul the restriction of foreign citizens’ right to organize and be responsible for protest meetings and manifestations. On April 11, 2011 the Constitutional Court of Georgia satisfied Public Defender’s constitutional case and considered unconstitutional article of the Law on Assembly and Manifestation of Georgia which deprived foreign citizens of the right to be organizers and responsible persons for protest meetings and manifestations. Trustee of the assembly and an organizer, who is entitled to file notification to executive body of local self-governance and who is able to call on the participants for dissolution of the meeting, are considered to be responsible persons. The prohibition that was considered unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court concerned non-citizens and stateless persons.
2012-04-23 12:15 See moreOn March 7, 2012 Akaki Dadiani – a convicted died in a prisoners’ medical center No 18. The medical report provides that heart, vascular and respiratory failure due to tuberculosis was the reason of his death. According to medical report a convicted had serious health problems. Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau provides in its report that: “A. Dadiani suffers from acute phthisical pathology, as for hepatology, his health condition is not serious.” Even though according to the report, Dadiani’s health condition was not critical in terms of hepatology, acute phthiscial pathology was sufficient ground for postponing his sentence. Generally, decision on postponement of punishment is made by a court. According to the ruling of Tbilisi City Court of February 28, 2012 A.Dadiani’s motion on postponing of the sentence was not satisfied for “lack of reasoning”. Later on the ruling was appealed to an appeal court. The lawyer reported that a convicted Daduani was unable to move independently and his health condition was critical. Yet, no reaction followed and Dadiani died on March 7, 2012. On March 15, Tbilisi Court of Appeal did not uphold the motion on postponing the punishment. The court observed that “though he is seriously ill with tuberculosis, submitted documents does not prove that his health condition will prevent serving the sentence.” However, Dadiani had died 8 days before the court submitted its reasoning.
2012-04-23 12:02 See moreToday, on April 11, 2012, four non-governmental organizations – Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Transparency International – Georgia, Association of Regional Media of Georgia and the Green Alternative Association – held a presentation of another report prepared within the frames of the project Promotion of Property Rights in New Tourist Zones. There were several key problems revealed in the process of preparing the report: • Frequent cases of free of charge transfer of lands and real estate by citizens of Georgia in favor of the government throughout Georgia and particularly in tourist zones. • Frequently there are mass cases of transfer of lands and real estate when dozens of citizens on one and the same territory abandons their property in favor of the government or presents the property to the government. For instance, there were 79 cases of property abandonment by natural persons on the territory of resort Bakhmaro during the period of January 13-25, 2011, and 20 facts of presenting property to the government by entrepreneurs in the resort of Sairme during December 13-23, 2010.
2012-04-12 10:21 See moreOn April 5, 2012, Rustavi City Court found defendant Elguja Kavlelishvili under the custody of GYLA not guilty. Elguja Kavlelishvili was charged under paragraph 1 of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Georgia – use of forged documents – which envisions a fine or up to 3 years of imprisonment. Elguja Kavlelishvili is a professional driver. A patrol officer suspected that his driving license was forged since it was not registered in the unified database of patrol police. It served as the basis for launching investigation.
2012-04-11 06:26 See moreOn April 5, 2011, the Christian-Democratic Movement initiated a constitutional amendment granting citizens of EU member-states with the rights to pursue political activities and participate in elections. More specifically, current draft of the initiative of the parliamentary majority allows for election of a citizen of any EU member-state as Georgia’s member of the parliament, if s/he was born and has been living in Georgia for the past 10 years. The initiative was also endorsed by the parliamentary majority. The initiative also envisages a possibility of granting these individuals with political rights, including the right to hold a political office, which is currently exclusively enjoyed by citizens of Georgia.
2012-04-10 11:48 See moreRecently representatives of various political parties made statements by means of media (Channel 25, Kronika newspaper, etc.), demonstrating xenophobic, religious and ethnic intolerance. We assume that these statements were probably meant to turn playing with ethnic and religious sentiments into a key instrument for gaining votes. All politicians should realize that it is impossible to succeed in Georgia by playing with xenophobic, religious sentiments. No one should be allowed to stir up opposition on ethnic or religious grounds in Georgia and to jeopardize Georgia’s statehood. We apply to the ruling as well as the oppositional parties in Georgia and political or public leaders, to let them know that no purpose, including one’s strive to remain in power or come to power, can justify manipulation with noted issues for the purpose of gaining votes in the elections. Ethnic or political affiliation of an opponent may not serve as an argument for reinforcing one’s position in political debates.
2012-04-06 08:44 See moreOn April 4, 2012 the Civil Registry Agency announced that Bidzina ivanishvili is not eligible to receive Georgian citizenship through naturalization. In view of high public interest to the issue, GYLA considers necessary to submit its legal assessment over the decision. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association thinks that the decision is not in line with Georgian legislation. The legislation of Georgia provides two separate procedures for individuals seeking to obtain Georgian citizenship: 1) naturalization and 2) dual citizenship. The major difference among them is that after receiving Georgian citizenship through naturalization a person shall not be citizen of any other country. If in the process to receive Georgian citizenship through naturalization an applicant is a foreign citizen there should be his/her officially declared will that after accepting Georgian citizenship he/she will renounce other country’s citizenship. As for dual citizenship, an applicant can maintain other country(s)’s citizenship even after gaining Georgian citizenship. As we know, in the case concerned, before applying for citizenship through naturalization, Ivanishvili submitted to the French embassy official request for launching procedures for his withdrawal from the French citizenship. The Civil Registry Agency was aware about Ivanishvili’s will that he would renounce his French citizenship in case of gaining Georgian citizenship. Therefore, the aim of the law, that a person can be only the citizen of Georgia after gaining citizenship through naturalization, should have been attained.
2012-04-06 08:42 See moreOn April 4, at 11:00 am, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association held a presentation of closure of the project "Monitoring Pre-Election Processes for the 2012 Parliamentary Elections" and its final report. GYLA conducted the pre-election monitoring under the auspices of the project "Monitoring Pre-Election Processes for the 2012 Parliamentary Elections of Georgia", supported by the British Embassy. The research focused on the following key aspects: • New legislative regulations adopted in late 2011, which create unequal election environment and fail to ensure realization of free and fair elections in the country; • Implementation of large-scale and one-time budgetary programs that blur the line between the state and the ruling party, creating unequal playing field for political parties. • Persecuting, intimidation, dismissal from work with alleged political motive. • Latest activities of the Chamber of Control and later the Interior Ministry.
2012-04-04 12:50 See moreOn December 27, 2011, the Government of Georgia adopted the resolution N489, determining toll, rate and payment terms for the emergency call center LEPL 112 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. According to the resolution, the payers of the toll are the users of telephone service. Monthly toll for the service of 112 is 20 tetris for natural persons and 50 tetris for legal entities. The resolution came into force on January 1, 2012. It is noteworthy that 112 has not yet started its operations and therefore, its service is not yet available for users. Nevertheless, starting from January 1, 2011, telephone service users are still charged with the tariff. GYLA applied to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, requesting information about the amount of money charged for emergency call center. According to the official letter, the income received from tolls collected in January-February 2012 amounted to GEL 1 408 868 (one million, four hundred eight thousand, eight hundred sixty-eight).
2012-04-03 10:45 See moreOn March 27, 2012, Zugdidi-based internet-publication livepress.ge released a video material showing detention of Kakha Mikaia, a member of Protect Georgia. The video-footage shows that a protest assembly was held outside Zugdidi District Court, where protesters were addressed by members of Free Democrats, Irakli Chiovani and Tea Tsulukiani. Assembly participants were protesting against the decision of Zugdidi District Court sentencing Sergo Chachibaia, a member of Free Democrats, to a two-month pre-trial imprisonment. Kakha Mikaia, a member of Protect Georgia, was holding a voice amplifier in his hands, used by Tea Tsulukiani to address the participants. Suddenly law enforcer approached him and notified him that he was under arrest. Zugdidi District Court found Kakha Mikaia guilty of committing offences envisaged by Articles 166 (petty hooliganism) and 173 (malicious disobedience to law enforcement officers) of the Code of Administrative Offences of Georgia and pronounced him as an administrative offender, sentencing him to a 10-day administrative imprisonment. Petty hooliganism entails use of abusive language in public places, derogatory treatment of citizens and other similar actions disturbing public order and peace of citizens. The footage released by livepress.ge clearly shows that Kakha Mikaia not only did not use any abusive language but he did not make any protest statements or address to the participants. The only action taken by Kakha Mikaia was holding the voice amplifier at the protest gathering. Malicious disobedience to law enforcement officers amounts to disobedience of police order to terminate an illegal action. The footage released by livepress.ge does not show what illegal action was the police ordering Kakha Mikaia to terminate and what was the order that the latter disobeyed to. The footage only shows a sudden appearance of law enforcement officers and detention of Kakha Mikaia without making any prior warning.
2012-04-02 11:15 See more