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Monitoring Public Events

August 30, 2020
Interim Reports

Human Rights Center prepared the interim reports of the court proceedings of the cases with alleged political motives, and the protest assemblies.  

The Interim Report on the court proceedings of the cases with alleged political motives  reflects the outcomes of the monitoring of the court proceedings of the criminal and administrative cases with alleged political motives for the period of February 1, 2020, and August 15, 2020. During the court monitoring it was identified that on the cases under the monitoring of HRC the right to a fair trial was not ensured by the system of criminal justice of Georgia. Despite the fact that the deficiencies identified during the court hearings do not expressly violate the right to fair trial per se, the combination of some individual cases, particular legislative defects and generally problematic court practice, further, the existence of selective justice and alleged political motives threatens the protection of the right to a fair trial in accordance with international standards and human right laws.

In the framework of the monitoring, HRC prepared four analytical documents thus far - legal assessment of the criminal cases launched against Giorgi Ugulava; legal analysis of the criminal cases commenced in connection with the June 20-21, 2019 events; legal assessment of the criminal cases launched against Irakli Okruashvili; legal analysis of the criminal case of Giorgi Rurua.

The analytical documents aimed at assessing the criminal cases with alleged political motives  through the analysis of the international practice and Georgian context. During the course of the studies, the criteria on political prisoners elaborated by the Amnesty International and the Council of Europe were employed. 

Furthermore, Human Rights Center presented the results of monitoring protest assemblies. The purpose of the report is to legally analyze the offenses identified during the rallies held in Georgia before the reporting period of 2020, and to determine the compliance of the actions of law enforcement officers with the international standards. The document thus examines the results of the monitoring of protest rallies of political content and other types organized by different political parties and civil movements in Tbilisi and other regions from March 1 to August 1, 2020. So far, the HRC monitors have observed 19 protest rallies. 

Taking into account the evaluation of monitoring reports of the assemblies held during the reporting period of 2020, based on the analysis of identified violations, and the assessment of the compliance of the actions of law enforcement officers with international standards, it can be said that at the majority of the protests the right to freedom of assembly and demonstration, and the relevant standards were respected at large. However, in a number of cases, among the cases identified by the Human Rights Center monitors, there were reports of disproportionate force mobilization, arrests, and demands to disperse with threatening to impose fines or to dispersed by using force. 

Human Rights Center monitors the criminal cases that are allegedly politically motivated in the common courts of Georgia within the frames of the project Public Events Monitoring. The project also presupposes the monitoring of protest demonstrations. The project is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The opinions enshrined in the press release are of Human Rights Center and may not reflect the opinions of the donor.  Therefore, NED is not responsible for the content of the text laid here. 

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