Ruling party awaiting Venice Commission report before overriding presidential veto on surveillance bill

The ruling Georgian Dream party has plans to look into the assessments of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission on the party’s domestic surveillance bill before it overrides the “unreasonable” veto placed on it by the country’s President, GD MP Irakli Kadagishvili said on Monday. 

• Georgian President vetoes ruling party bill extending scope, time limits for covert investigations, cites human rights

In his comments, Kagadishvili stressed that the ruling party-proposed bill, which proposes extending the scope and time limits of covert investigative actions, surveillance and wiretapping by state authorities, was “in full accordance with international standards”. 

Going into details, the MP suggested that the veto placed by President Salome Zourabichvili on the bill in late June “lacks argumentation” on the potential harm to human rights. 

If the Venice Commission assessments provide genuine reasons on why we should reject the amendments, we will consider the recommendations”, Kadagishvili said. 

The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code were proposed in April, extending the maximum term of covert investigative action from six to nine months in relation to 77 types of offences, including trafficking of minors, illegal treatment of nuclear or radioactive waste, involvement of minors in pornography production or distribution, illegal distribution of psychotropic medications and more.

Before Zourabichvili vetoed the bill, local non-governmental organisations had urged her to take a stand against the amendments, claiming approval of the legislation would hit human rights protection standards and mark a “serious setback for democratic development of Georgia”.