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"ODIHR report does not mention any facts of external oppression on the judiciary authority”

December 12, 2014
 
Nino Tsabolov 

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Office (ODIHR) published a report on the work of the judiciary in Georgia.

According to the Ministry of Justice, monitoring which started from spring of 2013 covered 14 high-profile criminal cases.

150-page report highlights the shortcomings of the judiciary and confirms the need for reforms, which began in November 2012 under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice and still continues. 

The report says that the Georgian government actively cooperated with the ODIHR during the monitoring process and showed that government continuous work on the improvement of the criminal judiciary system through endless reforms.

The report underlines that it stresses out only problematic issues and does not list those aspects of the Georgian criminal law and practice that meet international standards and best practices. 

Among the undergoing problems the report underlines those positive changes that resulted from the judiciary reforms implemented by the Ministry of Justice.

In particular, return of cameras in courtrooms is assessed positively, that allowed people to monitor the court hearings and enhanced process transparency. 

Part of the problems listed in the report shows the need to implement the following stages of the reform prepared by the Ministry of Justice, which should promote the independence of judges. 

"The report does not mention any facts of external oppression on the judiciary authority. This issue has been finally resolved in Georgia. However, internal independence of judges, which means independence of individual judge from the influence of government, still needs strengthening, and it is said in the report. The third wave of the reform implemented by the Ministry of Justice aims at the resolution of this problem; Venice Commission positively evaluated this reform recently,” said the Ministry of Justice. 

According to the Ministry of Justice, the report mentions practice of judges replacement from one into different courts as one of the shortcomings in the system, as well as transparency of division of cases among judges, shifting judges during the case discussion process without any clarifications, etc. 

In addition, the report notes that the current practice generates ability of "manipulation and interference.” 

Ministry of Justice states that the third wave of the reform aims at the resolution of those problems related with severe, transparent and fair conditions of the judiciary system.

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