Justice Minister: Georgia will not have two bodies for criminal prosecution
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Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani has responded to the civil sector’s demand for the creation of an independent body to address alleged wrongdoings by law enforcers and stated that the country will not have two Prosecutor’s Offices.
Tsulukiani stated that from January 1, 2019 a State Inspector’s Office will be created which will be responsible for investigating alleged crimes committed by law enforcers.
The State Inspector will also monitor personal data-related issues.
The inspector will investigate alleged torture, threats of torture, inhumane treatment, offence and similar misdeeds by law enforcers. However, the prosecution of the alleged offenders of law enforcement will be carried out by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office,” Tsulukiani stated.
"There is no such foreign practice and Georgia has no international obligation to create a separate Prosecutor’s Office to prosecute alleged offenders from the law enforcement agencies only. Moreover, forming another such body will affect state interests,” Tsulukiani added.
The minister stated that the State Inspector will be accountable only to the parliament of Georgia.
A special commission composed of all three government branches and NGOs will select candidates for the State Inspector.
From the candidates the government will choose two and send the nominations to parliament. The legislative body will vote for the candidates and confirm one for the new role.
The Government of Georgia has approved a draft law that outlines criteria to evaluate judges during their three-year probationary period before they are appointed for life.
A Minister within the Georgian Government says the country’s leaders were brave to introduce a higher threshold for election candidates, as it made things tougher for the Government but encouraged a more democratic and fair election outcome.
Dozens of people from two ethnic groups were involved in a verbal and physical altercation in Gardabani last night, where ethnic Azerbaijani and ethnic Georgians live in the same community.
The Government has approved a proposal to increase the transparency of plea bargaining.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has discussed a report by a Latvian MEP Boriss Cilevics, which speaks about the pros and cons of plea bargains in the judicial field and names Georgia as a positive example in terms of providing effective protection standards.