The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association responds to the announcement released by the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia (MRA) released on February 28, 2011 concerning provision of financial compensation in the amount of USD 10 000 to families internally displaced following the August 2008 war.According to the statement, “the process of issuing the so-called compensations is over, as it applied only to the internally displaced homeless families affected by the armed aggression of Russia from August 6, 2008, who managed to purchase housing with the state-offered subsidies and their savings.” “The so-called compensation offer has expired. The process of providing IDPs with housing solutions in the regions continues”.
2011-03-11 08:25 See moreThe draft law of Georgia on Partnership Fund was submitted to the Parliament of Georgia on February 25, 2011. The draft has been co-authored and initiated by the government of Georgia. The Committee on Sector Economy and Economic Policy and the Committee on Finance and Budget have already adopted the draft with the first hearing. The Agrarian Issues Committee is scheduled to consider the legal initiative with the first hearing tomorrow, at 10:00 am, 1 hour before the plenary session.The legal initiative of the government of Georgia envisages establishing a partnership fund in the form of a stock society. The stock society will be funded from the following resources: funds obtained from privatization, dividends of companies under the state ownership (including selling of shares or bonds), etc. The fund will operate as a non-profit company established to discharge the following public legal authority: creation of jobs, attraction of investments, providing support for completion of suspended projects and transferring ownership of implemented projects from the public sector to the private sector, i.e. privatization. The partnership fund will mostly focus on funding and implementing projects proposed by private sector. It is noteworthy that according to the draft the project will be considered even if its value equals GEL 5 million in agricultural sphere or GEL 30 million in non-agricultural sphere.
2011-03-08 08:18 See moreInitiated by the Government of Georgia, on February 18, 2011 draft law on “amendments to certain legislative acts of Georgia” was submitted to the parliament of Georgia. Under the draft prepared by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Correction and Legal Assistance of Georgia envisages use of public service as a non-imprisonment form of a punishment and its enforcement in a new manner.
2011-03-07 08:22 See moreInitiated by the Government of Georgia, on February 18, 2011 draft law on “amendments to certain legislative acts of Georgia” was submitted to the parliament of Georgia. Under the draft prepared by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Correction and Legal Assistance of Georgia envisages use of public service as a non-imprisonment form of a punishment and its enforcement in a new manner.
2011-03-07 08:22 See moreOn February 21, 2011, de-facto authorities of South Ossetia released 7 ethnic Georgians detained on various dates after the August 2008 War.The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Russian Justice Initiative (RJI) represents interests of five of them – Zviad Kobaladze, Demur Chigladze, Davit Kapanadze, Beka and Vaza Takadzes – before the European Court of Human Rights against the Russian Federation.Beka and Vazha Takadzes were detained by Ossetians dressed in military uniforms in February 201 in the village of Kirbala, Gori district, where they had gone for hunting. Representatives of the de-facto authorities of South Ossetia charged them for illegal border crossing. They served one year in Tskinvali Prison.Zviad Kobaladze, who was serving in Georgian army and participated in the Russian-Georgian war in 2008, was detained by Ossetian militaries on November 8, 2008 in the village of Avnevi, Kareli district. De-facto law enforcement authorities of South Ossetia charged him with murder, genocide and illegal carriage of arms. Z. Kobaladze was unlawfully detained in Tskhinvali prison for two years and three months.
2011-02-22 07:16 See moreOn February 4, 2010, members of the Parliament initiated the on amendments and supplements to the law of Georgia on Procurement. The proposed draft significantly widens the area to which the simplified procurement applies. GYLA negatively evaluates unjustified broadening of the scope of simplified procurement for certain procurers and introduction of new exceptions to the law by widening the circle of procuring subjects (the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia and agencies within the Ministry, the Ministry of Defense of Georgia and agencies within the Ministry, the Special Service of State Protection). Furthermore, GYLA called on MPs to take actions that will not allow deterioration of existing mechanisms of the law (click here to view the full text of GYLA’s opinion).
2011-02-18 08:33 See moreOn February 4, 2010, members of the Parliament initiated the on amendments and supplements to the law of Georgia on Procurement. The proposed draft significantly widens the area to which the simplified procurement applies. GYLA negatively evaluates unjustified broadening of the scope of simplified procurement for certain procurers and introduction of new exceptions to the law by widening the circle of procuring subjects (the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia and agencies within the Ministry, the Ministry of Defense of Georgia and agencies within the Ministry, the Special Service of State Protection). Furthermore, GYLA called on MPs to take actions that will not allow deterioration of existing mechanisms of the law (click here to view the full text of GYLA’s opinion).
2011-02-18 08:27 See moreNGOs from 50 different countries participated in the videoconference held on February 15 upon the initiative of the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.Out of hundreds of questions earlier submitted by NGOs from all over the world, only four were answered by the conference organizers. One of them was the question submitted by GYLA’s Chairperson Tamar Chugoshvili regarding compatibility of economic development and democratic development in Georgia. Specifically, GYLA inquired about the ways to ensure that the economic development does not hamper or question the rule of law in the country.The working group members answered that sustainable economy may not be achieved without combination of the rule of law, democratic governance and economic development.
2011-02-17 16:12 See moreOn February 15, 2011 the European Court of Human Rights rendered its judgment in Tsintsabadze v Georgia (case #35403/06). The court held that there had been a violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights by the State (Georgia), as the investigation into the death of Zurab Tsintsabadze in prison in 2005 had not been independent, objective and effective.Zurab Tsintsabadze was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and since July 6, 2005, he had been serving the sentence in Khoni Prison N9. He was discovered hanged in prison storeroom on September 30, 2005.The investigation considered that Z. Tsintsabadze committed a suicide, although mother of the deceased Tsintsabadze claimed that he was killed over a debt.The Court noted that although investigation into the death of Z. Tsintsabadze was launched immediately and a number of investigative measures were taken, there were a number of procedural shortcomings which left many obvious questions about the death unanswered.The investigation was conducted by the department that is under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Justice, which raised legitimate doubts as to the independence of the investigation.
2011-02-16 16:14 See moreThe Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association submitted its legal opinions concerning a number of legal drafts, including:Amendments to the law of Georgia on Conflict of Interests and Corruption in Public Service. GYLA welcomes the draft that aims at further elaboration of the law by including “State Minister and his/her deputy” in the list of state officials. At the same time, GYLA applied to MPs with a recommendation to designate heads of structural subunits of the State Minister’s office and their equivalents under the category of state officials (click here to view the full text of GYLA’s legal opinion).
2011-02-09 08:40 See more