Parliament reviewing implementation European Court of Human Rights standards into Georgian courts

The Georgian Parliament is reviewing implementation of standards of the European Court of Human Rights in Georgian courts, a question connected to one of the clauses outlined by the European Council for granting the country the European Union membership candidate status later this year.  

Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, MPs, non-governmental organisations and the Deputy Public Defender were involved in the session on Wednesday, exchanging opinions ahead of bills being drawn up on the matter, the Parliament’s press office said.

Levan Ioseliani, a member of the opposition Citizens party, said participants of the meeting were discussing “proactive use” of decisions of the ECHR in both the Criminal Procedure Code and the Civil Procedure Code of Georgia.

Ioseliani said he believed the Georgian court should “take into account” and “share” the decisions of the ECHR, noting the national courts already used the decisions in “many cases” while also adding the current process had a “formal character”  that “could not reflect” the content of the decision of Georgian courts.

The standard by which the ECHR protects fundamental rights should be shared by Georgian  courts, Ioseliani said.