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Amnesty of “Dead Articles”

December 11, 2007

An excerpt from Georgian legislation granting amnesty reads as follows: “Based on the principles of humanism, the Georgian government, understanding the level of security needed in civil society, grants the amnesty to suspects, accused, condemned and prisoners and applies to it as a single and special event.” This act was put into force as soon as it was adopted on November 29th, 2007 

The act of amnesty pertains to crimes committed before November 15th, 2006, and deals with about sixty articles of the Criminal Code. Government officials claim that the law will grant amnesty to 3,000 prisoners. Despite the humanistic goals of lawmakers, one part of society has already harshly criticized it. Lawyers argue that this is an amnesty of “dead articles,” explaining that there are less than 3,000 people at Georgian detention facilities charged with committing crimes under those articles.

“Articles of the criminal code included in the decree on amnesty are less active in practice,” lawyer Ana Chafidze said. “It does not deal with those articles under which many people are imprisoned. I can give you several examples of the articles the decree does include. Article 383 deals with disobedience to an employer. Article 384 deals with resistance of an employer or breaches of office regulations. Maximum punishment for these crimes under the law is a four to eight year prison sentence. Article 277 deals with the poor repair of public transport and putting technically faulty transport into rotation. The decree included these statutes because there are very few prisoners charged under them. This ‘humanism’ expressed by the government is imaginary and has nothing to do with reality.”

According to many lawyers, the reality is quite different as so-called “petty thieves” who steal a hen or something equally as small remain in prison while amnesty is granted to those who break security regulations during renovations or the operation and maintenance of Magisterial pipelines (Article 283).

“Generally, I welcome the announcement of the first act of amnesty since the Rose Revolution,” says Giorgi Chikaberidze a lawyer with the Kutaisi branch of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association. “I hope that the government will keep its promise, although it is worth mentioning that the amnesty deals with ‘dead articles,’ and people convicted under these articles are fewer in number. It is acceptable to announce amnesty for crimes committed in military units, the transport sphere and excise-free cigarette trading. The prisoners released under amnesty should have to improve and not re-offend and end up in jail again as this type of amnesty will not be issued again for a long time.”

Chikaberidze gives daily consultations on such issues and finds that people’s most common questions relate to laws on theft.

“It would be desirable that the act of amnesty included Article 177 on thievery,” says Rezo Topuria, a lawyer with the Kutaisi branch of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association. “If it had, many people would be released from jail, but it did not happen. It would be better if amnesty had included those convicted of less serious crimes. From the very beginning, it was said that that amnesty would not be extended to ‘heavy’ crimes, but that promise was not kept. Although amnesty was an impressive act for society to see, most do not know the details of the situation and are not aware of concrete cases.”

Manana Managadze, the head of the Monitoring Council at Kutaisi Prison #2, takes a similar position on the matter. ”The amnesty of dead articles will not change anything, especially when we are talking about the release of only 3,000 prisoners,” Managadze says. “We have 22,000 prisoners throughout the country. 3,000 will not make a dent.”

Current data shows that there are 1,883 prisoners in Kutaisi jail #2. 300 personal cases have been sent to the penitentiary department for discussion. Exactly how many prisoners will be released under amnesty will be known after a month. The deadline for such rulings is December 29th, 2007.

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi. 

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