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“It Is a Table” or Interpreters at Court Hearings

October 2, 2007

What kind of problems can people encounter when they take part in court proceedings and do not know the Georgian language? Some lawyers think they will come across serious obstacles at court hearings because of a lack of qualified interpreters.

Recently, Turkish citizens were interrogated as witnesses at the Civil Court. Not knowing the Georgian language, they demanded an interpreter at the hearing.

Lili Gelashvili (a lawyer): “Emil Mahmudov, an interpreter of the court, took responsibility to translate the trial. However, it turned out that he knew neither Turkish nor Georgian. In order to translate the trial properly he had to use gestures; he was confusing tenses, using incorrect grammar. It is evident that the interpreter plays an important role during the trial. His every word is recorded and the simplest mistake might result into a wrong verdict. The witnesses guessed that Mahmudov was not translating correctly. The accused protested too. However, the judge did not satisfy his protest, just the opposite; he dismissed the accused from the court room. Although we demanded the document containing the qualifications of the interpreter, the court officials could not show it. We also demanded, unsuccessfully, the replacement of the interpreter. The judge stated that he trusted Emil Mahmudov and did not see any necessity to change interpreters. I can state without a doubt that Mahmudov knows neither Georgian nor Turkish. The court cannot be taken seriously because of equally low-qualified interpreters.”

Lili Gelashvili stated that the Tskaltubo District Court has similar problems. “We needed an interpreter of the Turkish language for the Tskaltubo District Court, but finally a translator of some strange language “helped” us,” she said.

Tamar Gelashvili (a lawyer): “We needed an interpreter of the Armenian language for the civil court. They invited an interpreter of the Russian language instead. It turned out that the translator did not know Russian either and the counsel for the defense had to translate the trial. There were specific legal terminologies that the interpreter was not familiar with.”

Nino Niavadze (a lawyer): “I attended several trials where we needed interpreters of Azeri language. But the court invited specialists of the Russian language instead. My client did not know any Russian and we encountered serious problems. He could understand neither the interpreter nor the judge.”

The journalist for the Human Rights Center met Violeta Gevorkian, an interpreter of Russian, at the Criminal Collegium. She said that there are only three interpreters in Criminal and Civil Case Collegiums within the Tbilisi Civil Court. They are specialists of Russian only. “We have to translate seven or eight trials a day. Our salary is 250 lari. We are officially registered in three collegiums. We also have to translate documents for the court.”

Giorgi Otarashvili, the head of the Criminal Case Collegium, stated that there are some other employees in the court besides those three contracted interpreters. We cooperate with the Bureau for Interpreters. “We inform the bureau in advance for which languages we require interpreters and they assist us.”

The Human Rights Center demanded information regarding court interpreters from the Department of Common Courts. Their reply stated that there are contracted interpreters who generally translate trials. Furthermore, on July 6, 2007 the department signed a contract with “Amitsi Linguarum” which provides courts with translators. There are four contracted interpreters of the Russian languages at the Tbilisi Civil Court and they receive 250 lari a month. The Tbilisi Court of Appeal has four interpreters; two of them are specialists of Russian and the two others translate Azeri; they also receive 250 lari. “Courts mostly need translators of these languages. In cases that require translators of other languages, the court turns to “Amitsi Linguarum” two weeks before the trial commences and requests an interpreter of the particular language needed,” stated the letter.

Davit Silagadze, director of “Amitsi Linguarum Ltd” reduced the above-mentioned two weeks with nine days and said: “Officials from the court call us five days before the trial starts and ask us to send a specialist of a particular language. We get in touch with the translators and they translate trials. Mainly, they request specialists of the English language, but once they needed a translator of the Chinese language. We have signed contracts with specialists of twelve languages. We have short experience of cooperation with courts. We signed the contract several months ago. Other than that, I am new to this office and cannot tell you that much,” said Silagadze.

According to the information received from the Supreme Court, there are currently four contracted interpreters working for the court. They are specialists of Azeri, Armenian, English and Russian. Representatives of the Press-Service Center of the Supreme Court stated that before hiring interpreters, the qualification and work experience of the interpreters is verified. After having examined the candidates, the court signs contracts with them. “Interpreters of other languages are in less demand. In rare occasions the court has to hire a translator of one particular language based on a labor contract,” stated the letter received from the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court cannot give exact numbers of hired interpreters, “Translators have to translate documents in foreign languages as well as interpret during trials. Hence, it is difficult to estimate how many trials they have attended according to their salaries,” said Nana Vasadze, the head of the Press-Service Center of the Supreme Court.

Interpreters stated that they have to attend 7 or 8 trials a day. Consequently, the number of trials where interpreters are needed, is quite high. However, the lawyers claim that come across various problems because of unqualified interpreters. The fact that there are only four interpreters for Criminal, Civil and Administrative Collegiums and they are all specialists of the Russian language exacerbates the problem.

Nino Tarkhnishvili, Tbilisi

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