New bill could improve court system

The Public Defenders Office is working on a new bill to review court decisions and streamline the court process.

At a press conference today, Ombudsman Ucha Nanuashvili said a draft law was being processed and would hopefully be presented to Parliament in the 2014 spring session.

"Throughout the history of Public Defenders Office, we received a record number of submissions in December last year, he said.

"There were 727 applications including several collective statements. This is an unprecedented number.

Nanuashvili said the majority of submitters were unhappy with a court outcome and demanded the creation of the Commission on Miscarriages of Justice.

"A special draft law is being prepared by our office, which will be ready in several weeks and presented to Parliament. The Bill provides a mechanism to re-evaluate previous court decisions, Nanuashvili said.

"This is an alternative project. We dont want to create a parallel structure that will review court cases. We want this process to be in the framework of the Constitution. The role of Constitutional Court should increase. Current data reveals that the function and role of the Constitutional court has significantly narrowed, so certain cases might be reviewed there. Nanuashvili added.

The Ombudsman also stressed that the project aimed to make Georgian courts more efficient.