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Analysis of Criminal and Administrative Cases with Alleged Political Motive

January 24, 2013

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association held a presentation of the research “Analysis of Criminal and Administrative Cases with Alleged Political Motive” in Kutaisi on January 22, 2013.  The Analysis reviews recent trends in the country.

In the frame of the research, GYLA studied those criminal cases which were committed against state, society and human rights. GYLA representatives state that majority of these cases finished with unforeseen results. Many problems were revealed:  excessive use of force and ill-treatment during arrest by police officers; placement of people in pretrial detention longer than it is officially required; contradictory evidence; wrongful qualification of crime; violation of presumption of innocence; plea-agreements on almost every case, etc.

GYLA’s lawyers clarify that in accordance to the Constitution of Georgia, as well as according to the Criminal Procedural Code, any form of coercion against detainee is prohibited during criminal procedures. However, there are more than enough examples of this violation in Georgian reality.

“Analysis of criminal cases revealed one significant trend: opposition party activists were frequently arrested on charges of illegal possession of arms and narcotics or resisting police officers.  Those cases resemble each other very much and we found equal violations in all of them. Besides, law enforcement bodies and courts apply to low standard of allegation in these cases. As a result, only police officers make witness testimonies in most cases,” the lawyers said.

Young lawyers discussed concrete cases with political motivations at the presentation in Kutaisi including the case on photographers, charged for espionage and cases of people detained during the events of May 26.

Lawyers said people were frequently arrested on political grounds and they finished with guilty-verdicts.

“These conclusions and motivation became basis for the release of political prisoners and granting status of political prisoners to them. We presented this research in Tbilisi and Batumi before arriving here. Several people, who were arrested for the May 26, 2011 events, attended the presentation in Batumi. They were released after they were declared political prisoners,” said executive director of the GYLA Eka Popkhadze.

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