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Batumi Civil Court Sends Appeals Late

December 12, 2007

Shota Gorgadze has filed an appeal with the Supreme Council of Justice based on the actions of the Batumi Civil Court, which sent Gorgadze's appeal late to the Court of Appeals. Gorgadze’s appeal had been at the Batumi Civil Court since November 9.

Gorgadze applied to the Human Rights Center for help early in November. An appeal was prepared for him and was handed in to the Batumi Civil Court on November 9. Gorgadze's originial complaint dealt with preventing the JSC Georgian People’s Bank from taking a 48 lari cut from his monthly pension.

“I inquired with the court Chancellery several times to see if they had sent my appeal or not," Gorgadze said. "They told me that it had been sent. More than one month has passed and the Kutaisi Court of Appeals has not yet summoned me. I again asked the court chancellery whether they had sent it to the Appeal court and I discovered yesterday that my appeal remains in the judge's assistant's office."

Gorgadze has serious doubts that his appeal was sent late to the Kutaisi Court of Appeals on accident. “I am sure that Judge Khatuna Bolkvadze knows that the Kutaisi Court of Appeals will overturn her decision and it will be her minus.”

Tamar Siria, coordinator of the Human Rights Center’s Batumi Office, stated that the court of first instance neglected the rights of the complaintant, which include not only an impartial court hearing but also a prompt and effective conclusion to case discussion. “The Batumi Civil Court neglected Article 371 of the Georgian Civil Procedural Code," Siria says, "which states that 'Having accepted the suit, the court of first instance shall immediately send all case materials to the Court of Appeals as well as any and all additional materials, if submitted.”

An appeal sent one month later will result in Gorgadze losing part of his pension for another month.

Maka Malakmadze, Batumi  

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