The Constitutional Court Granted the Constitutional Claim Lodged by Human Rights Center

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The Constitutional Court of Georgia granted Constitutional Claim N1513 Mamuka Toliashvili versus the Parliament of Georgia.  HRC pleaded the cause of the claimant in the The court.

According to the judgment by the Constitutional Court, the normative content of the words within Article 260 of the Criminal Code of Georgia - "punishable by imprisonment for up to six years", which envisaged the possibility of applying a prison sentence for illegal manufacture, acquisition, storage, shipping or sending of narcotic drugs in quantities not suitable for use was declared invalid.

According to the Judgment by the Constitutional Court, individuals may not be imprisoned in the instances where they are caught with such a small quantity of any narcotic substances that would be unusable of a single user.  

Under the Court Judgment, the malicious practice when persons were imprisoned for several years in cases where a used items or syringes containing traces of any illegal drugs were found.  

According to the Constitutional Claim, no person may be punished for the damage he/she inflicts upon him/herself, provided the offense does not target public security and order. Moreover, in the cases of illegal substances, including heavy drugs in such small quantities that can be detected only by means of a laboratory and microscopic examination, it remains unclear what risks this may pose to the public and to what extent it is necessary for the State to interfere and take harsh actions, even more so when the quantity of the drug is not suitable even for a personal use. 

Under the above Judgment of the Constitutional Court, in reference to Article 310 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Reviewing the Judgments due to Newly Discovered Circumstances), the persons who have been sentenced to imprisonment under the norm valid then but now rendered as void shall be released from penitentiary facilities.  

Human Rights Center