MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND MEASURES FOR ITS ELIMINATIONDecember 2014 saw several more cases of domestic vio-lence that ended with a fatal outcome. [page.2] >>

SEVERAL EXPERTS LEAVE THE NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHA-NISM IN PROTESTSeveral experts left the Na-tional Preventive Mechanism under the Public Defender in protest.. [page.4] >>

REGARDING UNLAW-FUL DETENTION OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE IDFI, GIORGI KLDIASHVILIOn December 12, 2014, the Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia detained Giorgi Kldiashvili, the Director of NGO Institute of Develop-ment of Freedom of Informa-tion. [page.5] >>

DECEMBER 10 IS THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAYOn December 10 every year, the world marks the International Human Rights Day. On this very day, December 10, 1948, the member countries of the United Nations Organization created a very important document in the form of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN declared December 10 the Human Rights Day in 1950.[1]

The UN General Assembly chose “Human Rights 365” as the slogan for December 10, 2014, which emphasizes the importance of day-to-day efforts

[1] http://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/

to protect human rights. In his address dedicated to this day, the UN Secre-tary-General, Ban Ki-moon, pointed out: “I call on States to honor their ob-ligation to protect human rights every day of the year. I call on people to hold their governments to account.”

According to the Georgian legisla-tion, on December 10 every year, all public institutions are obliged to sub-mit reports on issuance of public in-formation to the Parliament and Presi-dent of Georgia.[2]

[2] Article 49 of the General Administrative Code of Georgia

LEGAL ACTS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REGARDING GEORGIAOn December 17, 2014, debates regard-ing Georgia were held at a plenary ses-sion of the European Parliament, and on December 18, the European Parliament voted on the ratification of the EU-Geor-gia Association Agreement. The agree-ment was ratified with 490 votes against 76; 57 members abstained from voting.

DECEMBER, 2014

www.gdi.ge www.facebook.com/gdi.ge

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THE OSCE PUBLISHES A REPORT ON TRIAL MONITORING IN GEORGIAOn December 9, 2014, the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) published a report on trial monitoring in Georgia.[1] The Office studied 12 criminal cases of high-ranking officials of the former government. On the basis of examples of the said cases, the report discusses the problematic issues of the right to a fair trial and includes recommendations with the pur-pose of correcting the deficiencies. The ODIHR pays particular at-tention to the degree of independence of the judiciary branch, the importance of public trust in the justice system, deficiencies in the legislation, and violations revealed during trials.

The ODIHR makes a negative assessment of the tendency of postponement of trials and protraction of adjudication of cases as it happened in the cases of Akhalaia (3), Adeishvili (2), Khetaguri/Gvaramia, and Kezerashvili, which affected the right to swift jus-tice. In the opinion of the international organization, what cre-ated problems was the replacement of the judge at mid-trial in the case of Dzimtseishvili, as well as unsubstantiated transfer of judges from other courts, so that they could preside over high-profile cases (the cases of Akhalaia). Another problem revealed in the report was the threat of exerting pressure on witnesses in the cases of Merabishvili/Chiaberashvili and Akhalaia. Yet another important problem was the violation of the presumption of inno-cence by high-ranking officials, including by the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Irakli Garibashvili.

It should be noted that in August 2014 the ODIHR published the Joint Opinion on the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia[2] which includes recommendations for the improvement of the criminal legislation of Georgia.

[1] http://www.osce.org/odihr/130676?download=true

[2] http://bit.ly/18BzgyR

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND MEASURES FOR ITS ELIMINATIONDecember 2014 saw several more cases of do-mestic violence that ended with a fatal outcome.

• In the village of Verkhviani (Sagarejo District, Kakheti), law enforcement bodies detained Elimkhan E. red-handed after he had first tried to kill his wife, Meleika G., with a gun and then run a car into her, as a result of which the woman died;[1]

• There was a murder in the village of Ruispiri, Telavi District, where a man, T.A., wounded his wife, E.M., with a knife during an argument. E.M. died from the sustained wounds, while the husband attempted a suicide. An investigation was launched with homicide charges.[2]

[1] http://bit.ly/1AL4EVO

[2] http://bit.ly/18hZCWr

Together with the ratification of the Asso-ciation Agreement, the European Parliament also adopted a resolution on Georgia by which it recognizes and sup-ports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and calls on Russia to end the occupation of Georgian territories and fulfill its obligation to refrain from the use of force. In the resolution, the EU expresses concern that numerous officials who served under the previous govern-ment and some members of the current opposition have been charged with criminal offences and are imprisoned

or placed in pre-trial detention. The European Parliament also expresses concern about the potential use of the ju-dicial system to fight against political opponents, which could undermine  Georgia’s European course and the ef-forts of the Georgian authorities in the area of democratic reform. The European Parliament also stresses the need to bring perpetrators of violent acts of Islamophobia and ho-mophobia to justice in an effective way.[1]

[1] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+20141218+ITEMS+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#sdocta5

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2 DECEMBER, 2014

AN APPEAL OF NGOS TO THE PARLIAMENT OF GEORGIA REGARDING CASES OF RE-LIGIOUS DISCRIMINATIONOn December 2, 2014, a group of non-governmen-tal and religious organizations, including Georgian Democracy Initiative, appealed to the Parliament of Georgia with a demand to study the recent cases of religious intolerance and violence.[1] The signatory or-ganizations demanded that the Parliament exercise control on the policies of the Government, respond in a timely manner to cases of restriction of religious freedom (including the cases of Kobuleti, Mokhe, and Terjola), and revise the Government’s ineffective poli-cies in relation to religiously motivated offences. The signatory organizations make a critical assessment of the position of the State Agency for Religious Issues regarding these cases and believe that the Agency’s participation in the settlement of the current prob-lems has yielded no tangible results.

[1] http://bit.ly/1EY4t9i

THE SITUATION IN PENAL INSTITUTIONSIn December 2014, the National Preventive Mechanism under the Public Defender of Georgia published three reports that reflect the results of visits to the Penal In-stitutions of Geguti No. 14,[1] Batumi No. 3,[2] and Kutaisi No. 2.[3] The reports pay particular attention to the inade-quate living conditions in the institutions, problems with medical service, and the ineffectiveness of the Suicide Prevention Program. The monitoring group assessed the condition of prisoners in the solitary confinement cells of the aforementioned institutions as ill-treatment. During the visits, the monitoring group was notified of cases of physical violence in the quarantine unit of Institution No. 8, as well as in Institutions No. 6 and No. 3.

In December, the media reported about the suicide of two prisoners:

[1] http://bit.ly/1zQqnb8[2] http://bit.ly/1Bu4L97[3] http://bit.ly/1vOSXx3

• A suicide case was documented in Penal Insti-tution No. 17. An investigation into the death of convict L.M. was launched under Article 115 of the Criminal Code (bringing to the point of suicide);[4]

• A suicide case was also documented in Penal In-stitution No. 18, although the members of the deceased prisoner’s family do not believe that J.I. committed suicide and say that he had been threatened with death. They also state that nar-cotic substances are sold in the penal institution. The Minister of Corrections and Probation denies the aforementioned. In connection with the afore-mentioned, the General Inspection of the Ministry of Corrections and Probation launched an inves-tigation under Article 115 of the Criminal Code (bringing to the point of suicide).[5]

[4] http://pia.ge/show_news.php?id=30029&lang=geo

[5] http://bit.ly/1G6BaVE

It should be noted that on December 9, 2014, the Minister of Internal Affairs issued a spe-cial instruction on “Stricter measures of response to facts of domestic violence”.[3] The Minister of Internal Affairs issued new directives for units of the MIA with the aim of eliminating discrimination and respond-ing effectively to offences committed on these grounds. The directives oblige the relevant agencies to launch an investigation under the corresponding articles (Articles 142, 1421, 1422, 155, and 156 of the Criminal Code of Georgia) if signs of a crime moti-vated by hate and intolerance are present. In such cases, the directives also oblige investigative units to indicate possible signs of discrimination in a box of the electronic program in accordance with Part 31 of Article 53 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, so that it will become possible to improve the accuracy of the special statistics of such crimes.

At the end of November 2014, the Prosecutor’s Office organized a week of struggle against domes-tic violence which ended on December 1, 2014, with a presentation of a study of domestic violence.[4]

[3] http://bit.ly/1AL4zkY

[4] http://pog.gov.ge/eng/news?info_id=591

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3 DECEMBER, 2014

SEVERAL EXPERTS LEAVE THE NATIONAL PREVEN-TIVE MECHANISM IN PROTESTSeveral experts left the National Preventive Mecha-nism under the Public Defender in protest.[1] Accord-ing to the former members of the group, there are nu-merous reasons for this. Specifically, experts for prison monitoring are selected through nepotism, and the Public Defender’s power of attorney is granted for a short term and is not handed to experts personally, due to which they are not able to exercise their law-given right and carry out full monitoring. The experts also state that the Public Defender expressed dis-content about the critical articles published by them, which, for them, is equivalent to restriction of freedom of expression. According to the former members of the group, the Public Defender conceals violations in penal institutions. The experts say that the National

[1] http://bit.ly/1zQr0S3

Preventive Mechanism does not work in reality,[2] and its work does not correspond with either international or national standards.[3] And the criteria of selection of experts through competitions and the internal regula-tions are in need of improvement.[4]

The Public Defender considers the accusations of the former members of the preventive group unfounded,[5] although ten experts have left the Na-tional Preventive Mechanism since 2013, which indi-cates to serious deficiencies in the work of the National Preventive Mechanism.

[2] http://www.liberali.ge/ge/liberali/news/122519/[3] http://www.netgazeti.ge/GE/105/News/39745/[4] http://www.liberali.ge/ge/liberali/news/122508/[5] http://bit.ly/1E6NLWS

In December 2014, the media again reported about several cases of ill-treatment of convicts:

• According to convict R.G., beating and inhuman treatment of prisoners still continues in the Gldani prison, and, after he had protested against it, em-ployees of the Gldani Institution No. 8 beat him and threatened him with prolonging the incar-ceration period, and then transferred him to the Kutaisi Institution No. 2. The convict inflicted self-injuries on his body and went on a hunger strike.[6] The General Inspection of the Ministry of Correc-tions and Probation launched an inquiry into the aforementioned case.[7]

• Relatives of convict O.A., a prisoner in the Kutaisi Institution No. 2 who was on a hunger strike, say that the convict went on a hunger strike because he had been subjected to pressure by law enforce-ment officers. Specifically, the law enforcers had beaten him cruelly before detaining him, because they were trying to force him to confess to several crimes that had been committed in Kutaisi. Ac-

[6] http://bit.ly/1G6AYWs

[7] http://imedi.ge/archive/index.php?pg=nws&id=41899&ct=3

cording to news reports, the prisoner who was on a hunger strike and was demanding an objective investigation inflicted self-injuries on his body;[8]

• The Public Defender appealed to the Chief Pros-ecutor of Georgia with a proposal to launch an investigation into the beating and inhuman treat-ment of convict Sh.D. in the Batumi Institution No. 3.[9]According to the answering statement of the Ministry of Corrections and Probation, the Public Defender had disseminated unverified informa-tion[10] and Sh.d. was misleading rights advocates in order to avoid punishment.

Despite all the aforementioned, the Minister of Correc-tions and Probation, Giorgi Mgebrishvili, stated that “No one is beaten and tortured in prisons any more”.[11] He also said that investigation was under way about individ-ual pieces of information or the General Inspection was investigating the issue, though, as was found out, he did not know the results of the investigation.

[8] http://bit.ly/1BtiAEA[9] http://bit.ly/1vOTfUP[10] http://www.mcla.gov.ge/ka/news/2014/12/2029[11] http://bit.ly/1FKlvrt

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S. MUZAEV WINS A DISPUTE IN COURT AGAINST THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRSCitizen of Georgia S. Muzaev, who is a refugee from Chechnya, won a dispute in court against the MIA. He was planning to go abroad, though the MIA did not allow him to do so and restricted his freedom of movement on a number of occasions. Finally, S. Muzaev appealed to a court which satisfied his complaint – it found the restriction of freedom of movement unjustified and imposed the obligation to com-pensate for material damages on the MIA.[1]

It should be noted that S. Muzaev accuses law enforcement bodies of exerting pressure on him and of forcing him to give a false testi-mony[2] against former high-ranking officials about the so-called La-pankuri special operation.[3]

[1] http://frontnews.ge/ge/news/65816[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTL66utKorE[3] On August 28-29, 2012, near the village of Lapankuri in the Lopota Val-ley, Georgian law enforcement bodies conducted a special operation against an unlawful armed unit during which several persons died on both sides. The investigation in connection with the special operation is still under way. There is a special commission under the Public Defender which aims at studying the issue of lawfulness of the actions of the Georgian law enforcement officers dur-ing the Lapankuri special operation.

PRESSURE ON CITIZENS BY THE SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI POLICEAccording to Nino Narimanishvili, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Sam-khretis Karibche – a regional news-paper in Samtskhe-Javakheti, an ar-ticle published on the newspaper’s Website which included materials ex-posing the head of the Samtskhe-Ja-vakheti Regional Main Division of the Police was followed by phone calls from the Press Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and a demand that the editorial office change the title, which constitutes an attempt to in-terfere in editorial activity.

Non-governmental organizations – Georgian Democracy Initiative, the Media Development Founda-tion, and the Tolerance and Diver-sity Institute – disseminated a joint statement[1] in which they expressed concern about the events that had developed around Samkhretis Karibche. The organizations called on the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia to launch an investigation into the threat against the journalist and on the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on its part, to hold an inquiry into it as a case of threat and interference in a journal-ist’s editorial activity. In addition, the organizations called on the Govern-ment of Georgia to ensure the safety of journalists of Samkhretis Karibche, as well as to stop the interference in their professional activity and pre-vent such facts in the future, which is envisaged by the obligations includ-ed in the Georgian government’s Strategy and Action plan for the Pro-tection of Human Rights.

[1] http://bit.ly/1ED6yJW

REGARDING UNLAWFUL DETEN-TION OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE IDFI, GIORGI KLDIASHVILIOn December 12, 2014, the Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Inter-nal Affairs of Georgia detained Giorgi Kldiashvili, the Director of NGO Institute of Development of Freedom of Information. The detention was caused by the fact that G. Kldiashvili took a gun from his firearms collection, which was under his ownership and officially registered in his name, to a repairman without the permission of the Service Agency of the MIA. G. Kldiashvili was charged under Part 2, Article 236 of the Criminal Code (illicit carrying of fire-arms) which pro-vides for a fine or deprivation of freedom from three to five years. After a three-hour interrogation, G. Kldiashvili was detained and transferred to a temporary detention isolator in the so-called “Module” building where he spent two days. At the court hearing, the prosecutor failed to substantiate the grounds for de-taining G. Kldiashvili for two days. The court notes in its ruling: “The court has come to the conclusion that we are faced with an essential violation of the re-quirements of Article 171 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Georgia, which creates grounds for releasing the detainee”. With the said ruling, the court con-firmed that the representatives of the MIA had violated the requirements of the law in relation to G. Kldiashvili. It should be noted that carrying a registered weapon by G. Kldiashvili could have become the grounds for TO BE CONTINUED >>

5 DECEMBER, 2014

THE GUERRILLA GAR-DENERS ARE DETAINED FOR BLOCKING THE BUILDING OF THE TBILISI CITY ASSEMBLY

On December 30, 2014, citizens held a protest in front of the building of the Tbilisi City Assembly in parallel with a session related to the construction of Panora-ma Tbilisi, by which they once again voiced their pro-test against this project. The issue being considered concerned the change of zoning statuses in various districts of the city which, according the Guerrilla Gar-deners, was related to the project of Panorama Tbilisi. A part of the members of the City Assembly also de-manded the postponement of the consideration of the aforementioned project. However, with the deci-sion of the Tbilisi City Assembly, the recreational zone status of the Sololaki slope was changed.[1]

At the time of the protest, a physical confronta-tion took place between the protest participants and members of the City Assembly,[2] due to which the police detained four citizens with charges of commit-ting offences envisaged by Articles 166 (petty hooli-ganism), 173 (disobedience to legal orders or instruc-tions of law enforcement officers), and Part 4 of 1741 (violation of the rule of organizing and conducting assemblies and manifestations) of the Code of Ad-ministrative Offences, though the disseminated foot-age clearly shows that the protest participants were protesting against the actions of the City Assembly in quite an acceptable form and they did not block the access road to the City Assembly

[1] https://ici.ge/news/264141-sololakis-qeds-landsaftis-zonis-statusi-seecvala.html[2] http://bit.ly/1AssfG3 ; http://bit.ly/1M1vYmA

AN APPEAL OF NGOS TO THE SELF-REGULATORY MECHANISM OF THE RUSTAVI 2 TV STATIONGeorgian Democracy Initiative, together with other NGOs, appealed to the Rustavi 2 TV station with a com-plaint and called on it to study violations of provisions of the Code of Conduct for Broadcasters in the program Na-nuka’s Show which was aired on Rustavi 2 on November 26 and contained discriminatory expression against the Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to the Code of Conduct for Broadcasters, the responsibility for violations of the Code of Conduct lies with the broadcaster itself, not with the subjects that create a product commissioned by the broadcaster. In addition, the aforementioned NGOs de-manded that the self-regulatory body of Rustavi 2 study the violations of the provisions of Articles 31, 32, and 33 of the Code of Conduct which regulate the coverage of the issues of diversity, equality, and tolerance and are aimed at preventing the media from forming incorrect stereo-types and encouraging intolerance towards people with different identities.[1]

[1] http://bit.ly/1ALe4R9

administrative, but not criminal liability.[1] In connection with the aforementioned, 34 non-gov-

ernmental organizations developed a joint statement[2] in which they express doubt that the inadequate actions of the law enforcement officials in relation to G. Kldiashvili may be related to the latter’s active professional activities and involvement in a civic campaign. The authors of the statement demand the following: investigate the legality of the actions undertaken by the policemen and hold all those acting against the requirements of law responsible; close all criminal proceedings against G. Kldiashvili; high officials should refrain from making abusive statements on NGOs, addressing them as traitors and actors taking subversive measures, as, together with other negative ef-fects, these ill-considered statements can have effect of encouraging law enforcement officers to take illegal and inadequate measures.[3]

[1] Article 181 of the Administrative Code of Georgia “Violation of the Rule of Storage or Transportation of Firearms and Ammunition”.[2] https://idfi.ge/en/ngo-statement-giorgi-kldiashvili

[3] Finally, with the decision of the court, the proceedings against him were closed. Giorgi Kldiashvili is planning to file a com-plaint with a demand of compensation for moral damages and calls on the MIA and the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the unlawful action of the law enforcement officers.

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6 DECEMBER, 2014

A CRISIS IN REGIONAL MEDIA OUTLETSRegional media outlets are stopping functioning due to financial problems. These media outlets include a regional newspaper of Samtskhe-Javakheti Samkhretis Karibche and the Information Center of Samegrelo – tspress.ge. The Information Center of Kar-tli – qartli.ge – is also experiencing problems.[1]

It should be noted that these media outlets have been covering cases of human rights violations, misspending of budget funds, and other similar facts, due to which a certain confrontation has been felt between the journalists and the authorities.[2] The journalists talk about pressure on the part of the authorities.[3] As a result of such an attitude, the num-ber of advertisements in the regional media outlets, which were the main source of their income, decreased.

[1] http://ick.ge/articles/19506-i.html[2] http://bit.ly/1M0MIbB[3] http://ick.ge/articles/18315-i.html

DECEMBER 3 IS THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIESOn December 3, the world marks the interna-tional day of the rights of persons with disabili-ties. The UN started to mark this day from 1992, and it is aimed at understanding and resolving the problems faced by persons with disabilities in various countries.

In Georgia too, various events involving rep-resentatives of both public institutions and NGOs were held to mark this day. A lot of problems re-lated to persons with disabilities still remain un-resolved in Georgia. For example, there is still no center for rehabilitation of the blind, and public spaces are still unadapted to the needs of dis-abled persons. The main challenge today is re-lated to the education and employment of these people and their involvement in all the programs and processes that are under way in the country.

THE PRESIDENT PARDONS 84 CONVICTSThe President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, par-doned 84 convicts for the New Year. Sixty-three con-victs, of whom one is a woman and one is a minor, left the penitentiaries on December 30. As for the remaining 21 convicts, their remaining sentences were shortened by various periods. One of them is a woman, and four of them are minors. The Pardon Commission discussed 493 cases in total.[1]

[1] http://bit.ly/1CepHST

building either.[3]According to the de-fense lawyer, the protest participants were acting quite legitimately, within the limits of the right to a peaceful assembly and manifestation that is guar-anteed by the Constitution, and the police failed to prove that the building had been blocked.[4]

[3] http://rustavi2.com/en/news/6696 On December 31, the police released the detained citizens on the basis of a written promise to show up in court. Finally, the court acquitted them of the charge of petty hooliganism, but found them guilty of disobedience to legal orders or instructions of law enforcement officers and violation of the rule of organizing and conducting assemblies and manifestations, though it limited itself only to a verbal reprimand. [4] http://for.ge/view.php?for_id=38184&cat=9

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JUDGMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURTOn December 24, 2014, the Plenum of the Constitutional Court of Georgia delivered a judgment on the case of N(N)LE Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) and Citizen of Georgia Vakhushti Menabde v. Parliament of Georgia and found unconstitutional the norms of the Organic Law of Georgia on the Constitutional Court of Georgia which obliged the Court, in the case of suspension of a norm that had been appealed in the Court, to deliver a judg- TO BE CONTINUED >>

7 DECEMBER, 2014

THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA RELEAS-ES THE MAIN STA-TISTICAL DATA ON COMMON COURTS ENCOMPASSING 11 MONTHS OF 2014[1]

[1] http://www.supremecourt.ge/statistics/2014/

The Supreme Court of Georgia released the main statistical data on common courts that encom-pass 11 months of 2014. According to the sta-tistics, the Court adjudicated criminal cases of 15,367 persons in total, including 4,101 cases that were adjudicated substantively. 14,805 persons (96.3%) were convicted, including 5,326 persons (36%) who were sentenced to imprisonment. Ac-cording to the data of 11 months of 2013, of the cases of 14,177 persons which were adjudicated, 13,479 persons (95%) were convicted, including 4,264 persons (28.1%) who were sentenced to imprisonment. In total, compared with the data of the previous year, during the 11 months of 2014, the number of people who were convict-ed increased by 9.8%, and the number of those sentenced to imprisonment rose by 7.9%. In the same period of 2014, 113 persons (2.4%) were acquitted, 132 persons (2.9%) were partially ac-quitted, and 135 cases (2.9%) were closed. The number of acquitting judgments rose by 73.8% compared with 2013.

THE MINISTRY OF INTER-NAL AFFAIRS RELEASES THE CRIME STATISTICS OF NOVEMBER 2014In the second half of December 2014, the MIA released

the crime statistics of November of the same year.

According to the information released by the Min-

istry, in November 2014, 2,232 crimes were registered,

of which 1,473 were solved. The crime solving rate

amounts to 65.99%. In comparison with the analogous

reporting period of 2013, the percentage decrease of

crimes amounts to 15.1%.

According to the statistics of the MIA, in November

2014, 53 cases of domestic violence were registered, of

which 44 were solved; the figure of the analogous pe-

riod of 2013 was 43 cases, of which 27 were solved.[1]

[1] http://police.ge/en/2014-tslis-ianvar-noembris-danashaulis-statistika/7479

ment no later than 30 days, and in special cases, no later than 45 days of making the decision on suspension. Otherwise, the decision on suspension of the disputed norm would lose legal effect. The Court deemed that the mecha-nism established by the disputed legal act did not constitute the least restricting means and, accordingly, violated the re-quirements of the principle of proportionality.

On December 24, 2014, the Plenum of the Constitutional Court of Georgia delivered a judgment on the case of Con-stitutional Submission of the Supreme Court of Georgia on the Constitutionality of Article 546 of the Code of Criminal Proce-dure of February 20, 1998, and Part I of Article 518 of the Same Code and found that the normative content of the aforemen-tioned articles, which ruled out the possibility to appeal a verdict by an acquitted party in courts of appeal and the Court of Cessation, was not in conformity with Paragraph 1, Article 42 of the Constitution. The Court deemed that the disputed norms violated the principle of proportionality and unjustifiably restricted the right to a fair trial.

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8 DECEMBER, 2014

THIS PROJECT IS FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY THE HUMAN RIGHTS FUND OF THE NETHERLANDS’ MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

2 D. Gamrekeli Str. , 3rd floor, Tbilisi 0194, Georgia | Tel/Fax: (+995 32) 272 80 08 | info@gdi.ge | www.gdi.ge

LEGAL ACTS With Resolution No. 684 of December 16, 2014, the Government of Georgia approved the rule of identi-

fication of victims and determining their status by the

group under the Interagency Council for the Preven-

tion of Domestic Violence which determines the sta-

tus of victims of domestic violence (the Victim Identi-

fication Group). The rule determines the subjects au-

thorized to identify victims of domestic violence, the

procedure of formation of the group that determines

victims’ status, and the procedure of granting the sta-

tus to victims.

With Resolution No. 733 of December 26, 2014, the Government of Georgia approved the Concept

of Introduction and Development of the Labor Mar-

ket Information System which aims at “creating and

developing the labor market information system that

is oriented at monitoring the labor market, develop-

ing evidence-based policies, assessing the results of

implemented programs, and providing various stake-

holders and consumers with information about the

labor market”. To this end, it is necessary to create a

central unit at the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social

Affairs of Georgia which will be responsible for collec-

tion, procession, and analysis of information and dis-

semination of results.

With Resolution No. 724 of December 26, 2014, the Government of Georgia approved the state concept

of “Universal healthcare and the quality management

for the protection of patients’ rights” which deter-

mines the priorities in the area of healthcare and the

main directions of development of healthcare in the

years 2014-2020.

With Resolution No. 762 of December 31, 2014, the Government of Georgia approved the Strategic Docu-

ment for the Development of Mental Health and the Ac-

tion Plan for the years 2015-2020 in whose framework,

among other measures, it is planned to harmonize the

Georgian legislation on mental health with international

legislation, create a special body for coordination and

oversight of the state policies (progress and results) in

the area of mental health, develop flexible and effective

mechanisms of state funding of mental health, create

and introduce a systemic mechanism of quality control

and quality improvement of services, etc.

With Resolution No. 758 of December 31, 2014, the Government of Georgia approved the methodology of

assessment of the socio-economic condition of socially

vulnerable families (households). The document de-

termines the structure of the Household Welfare Index

which assesses the level of welfare of families willing to

register or registered in the database of socially vulner-

able families.

With Orders No. 160 and No. 161 of December 31, 2014, the Minister of Corrections and Probation of Georgia approved the instructions for the implementa-

tion of Atlantis, a program of psycho-social rehabilita-

tion of convicts in penal institutions and limited liberty

establishments. The program Atlantis is a therapeutic

model for the rehabilitation of convicts addicted to al-

coholic, narcotic, and other psychoactive substances

which is planned to be implemented in the Penal In-

stitutions of Kutaisi No. 2 and Rustavi No. 6 and the

Women’s Penal Institution No. 5, as well as in limited

liberty establishments.

9 DECEMBER, 2014