Lawyers Demanding Justice Are Arrested

Lawyers Demanding Justice Are Arrested

Lawyers and Human Rights NGOs are speaking out about the harassment of lawyers and demand changes be made to unconstitutional legislation. Judge Khvicha Kikalishvili, from Telavi, imprisoned lawyer Onise Mebonia for ten days, because he criticized legal violations committed by the Judge.

Although Mebonia is free now, after ten days of detention, he is not going to give up and continues to demand the abolition of unconstitutional standards. The Young Lawyers Association and Article 42 of the Constitution support him.

According to Manana Kobakhidze, lawyer for Article 42 of Constitution, the advocate was consciously excluded from the process. “The reason for Mebonia’s detention was that he pointed out legal violations made by the Judge. The hearing of the criminal code case was mainly conducted in the Azeri language, so it was impossible for the lawyers and other persons to understand what was being said. Mebonia demanded a translator but the judge did not satisfy his requirements. After that Mebonia said that there was no need for him to remain in the Court. The judge kicked him out of the hall and decided to arrest him”.

According to Kobakhidze, Judges exploit Article 208 of the Criminal Code for purposes other than it was originally intended. That is why advocates demand the striking down of this article by the Constitutional Court. According to Article 208, judges have the right to kick out, fine or arrest for a maximum of 30 days, someone who disrupts order in court.

“This is a very personal part of the Code. You never know what the judge will find as an abuse of order. It was the same with Mebonia’s case. The judge simply removed an unwanted lawyer from the case quite easily”, declares Kobakhidze.

Another violation resulting from this article is that the decision of judge cannot be appealed. “Lawyers do not have the right to appeal against this decision in any instance. However, according to Article 42 of the Constitution, everyone has the right to a Court hearing. Moreover, in accordance with ‘The Rome Statute’, ratified by Georgia, arresting a person for disrupting order in the court room is prohibited. Unfortunately, judges have recently been using this unconstitutional standard often. The same thing happened regarding Irakli Kakabadze.”

David Asatiani, a member of the executive council of the Young Georgian Lawyers Association also spoke about the campaign being organized against lawyers. “It is the first time a lawyer has been arrested for demanding justice. This is a violation of every standard. It is a sign that the time has come to resist this trend. We intend to focus public attention on such cases”.

We asked the representatives of the High Court to comment on the case. Judge Nunu Kvantaliani believes that the decision made by Chitashvili was fair and the Court is not harassing advocates. “As for Mebonia’s case – he disrupted order in the court and did not respect the judge. The judge was unable to calm him down, so he kicked Mebonia out of the hall. Later he was detained for ten days”.

Nunu Kvantaliani explained that no one has the right to insult the court and if a lawyer does not agree with a decision made by a judge, they can appeal against it.

Eka Gulua