Lawyers Suppressed Everywhere in Georgia, Regions too!

Kakha  Maghradze

Gulo Kokhodze, Akhaltsikhe

Recently, demonstrations of the lawyers in the capital and the one-month hunger strike of Malkaz Jangirashvili, the lawyer who wanted to draw public attention to the plight of justice in Georgia.  Human Rights Centre interviewed lawyer Kakha Maghradze in order to find out the plight of attorneys in the Akhaltsikhe District.

-Lawyer Malkhaz Jangirashvili demands to add a new sub-paragraph “c” to the Article 593, Paragraph III of the Georgian Criminal Procedural Code. The amendments would state: “conclusion of the investigation commission within the Georgian Parliament and recommendation of the Georgian Public Defender shall be considered as newly discovered evidence in a pending case.”

The lawyers submitted necessary amount of signatures on introduction amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code to the Georgian Parliament. Have you joined the appeal?

-I completely agree with the position of the lawyer. Moreover, I consider the Public Defender should have the authority to carry out independent investigation and take a case to before the court. As for signatures, by all means I will sign the petition

-Lawyers on strike remark that there are “poor lawyers” who are easily managed and led around like sheep, from one to another court rooms; these people are then sent to the Appeal Court from City Courts. What is your opinion?

-I think that such kinds of lawyers actually do exist. They are closely connected with law enforcement bodies because the law enforcers often suggest accused people to hire a particular lawyer. I can recall one such situation when the head of the police department and the investigator ordered the suspect not to hire me. I have informed the former regional and current district prosecutor about the ethnical violation.

-How do you think, is it a proper practice when lawyers demand to summarize “arbitrary verdict” as it is actually lawyers who are attending the process of passing verdicts, and if they do not agree,  they should have immediately objected?

-Although lawyers are present when final verdicts are announced but in accordance to the amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code the Supreme Court, does not accept appeals unless the circumstances of the case are important the development of the judiciary system and case law and to reinforce general judiciary practice. Thus, it does not really sense to appeal against lower court verdicts.

-“We Protest Prosecutor’s State”, “We Demand Freedom of Judiciary System,” “Stop Violating the Rights of the Lawyers,” … as these are the demands of the lawyers. Are their demands reasonable and whether you have similar problems encountered during your professional activities?

-I completely agree with the statement that Georgia has evolved into become a Prosecutor’s In fact, the majority power that belonged to a judge has been assigned to the office of prosecutor. The prosecutor has right to arrest the witness on the ground of a confident informer. In doing so, they end up blackmailing witnesses and victims alike. The prosecutors then sign plea-bargain with some people while they refuse the same opportunity to others. It is still vague what criteria is used when selecting a suspect for a plea-bargain deal. I think, several lawyers have deals with prosecutors while signing off with plea-bargains.

-How many clients of yours were convicted recently? How many of your cases ended in plea-bargain (if you do not have exact statistics, can you please tell us approximate figure)?
 
-The court has not actually rule where a person was innocent. Just consider slight charges are used to end the case, as it appears that there is no other way out. The accused has no choice but to agree a minor charge as a trade off in getting rid of the more serious prosecution.   Nearly 20 out of my clients had signed plea-bargain agreements and been subjected to minor punishments. Recently, the court might find those people not guilty who are acceptable for the Prosecutor’s Office. Otherwise, judges cannot dare to pass positive verdicts. By the way, they found those accused not guilty who were defended by public defenders.

-Are lawyers independent in the regions and if you have ever been suppressed by the prosecutor’s office or by the judge? 

-In the regions a lawyer cannot be completely independent because it is up to prosecutor, investigator and the head of the police department to decide who will defend the accused or not. I have never been suppressed but there are threatened people who do their best to avoid persecution from law enforcers. People are put into difficult situations and will do anything to get the money to pay money for their freedom. They will sometimes even sell their houses to come up with the money.  It is noteworthy that investigators are lazy to investigate the cases not to speak to look for evidences. As for suppression on lawyers, detention of the lawyer Kakha Kapanadze can serve as a good example for the problem. He is successful lawyer and has “warm” relationships with law enforcers and he could arrange plea-deals very easily.