Attorneys from Zugdidi Are not Allowed Into the Prosecutor's Office

Nearly ten bar firms work in Zugdidi which employ 50-60 attorneys. Everyday, they have to deal with police and Prosecutor's office, where their rights are often violated.

Dariko Tordia, the head of the bar firm Okros Khuteuli, said in her conversation with the Human Rights Centre that "On December 1, I arrived at the regional prosecutor's office to get some documents at the chancellery. I was kept waiting outside the office in the heavy rain. One of the guards fetched me the document and I signed it on the place. How can they protect human rights when they violate even attorney's rights in Zugdidi?"

Other attorneys from Zugdidi agree with Tordia. "The situation in Zugdidi is worse than even at General Prosecutor's office. When the attorney wants to mediate with the prosecutor, s/he is not allowed inside the prosecutor's office as well as in the chancellery. They do not know who is involved in this or that case. We are insulted and degraded before the people who we try to defend," said the attorney, Tandila Jologua.
One of the attorneys, who preferred to stay anonymous, said that 'the prosecutors leave the office with case files under their arms. They speak about trials and plea-bargain in the street. Is it democracy?"

Nato Berulava, Zugdidi