Georgia’s Special Investigation Service requests extension of remit to European Human Rights Convention cases

Georgia’s Special Investigation Service, a recently established agency probing abuse of power at institutions, on Wednesday asked the country’s Parliament to extend its mandate and allow the body to look into all cases involving alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

• Parliament appoints heads of special investigation, personal data protection services

In remarks to the state legislature, the agency suggested that it should not be limited to specific articles of the international convention protecting human rights and political freedoms in Europe, claiming the European Court of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers could oblige the Service to re-investigate the cases also pertaining to other articles. 

In response to the request, a working group of the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, set up earlier this year to ensure the institutional strengthening of the Special Investigation and the Personal Data Protection Services, held its first session later on Wednesday.

Along with the Personal Data Protection Service, the Special Investigation Service replaced the State Inspector Service - which had combined the responsibilities of the two offices before the ruling Georgian Dream party proposed its abolishment in December 2021 - starting in March, in a bid to “further strengthen personal data protection and ensure more effective investigation of alleged  abuse of power cases”. 

In its earlier move, the Georgian Dream Government launched the State Inspector Service back in 2018 to study alleged offences by law enforcement officers.