Parliament Committee Chair: “disturbing” if US Embassy in Georgia believes surveillance bill increases Govt's ability to monitor its citizens

Anri Okhanashvili, the Head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday told reporters it was “disturbing” if the United States Embassy in Georgia believed that the domestic surveillance and wiretapping bill would increase the Georgian Government's ability to monitor its citizens.

Okhanashvili said the law, which extends the scope and time limits on covert investigative actions, surveillance and wiretapping by state authorities, has been “fully compatible” with the European standards of human rights protection and the standards of the Strasbourg court.

Parliament Committee Chair said that Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who vetoed the bill in June, had not submitted motivated remarks on the draft law and her document had been “full of political speculations”.

Our citizens should know that the legitimacy of investigative actions is determined by the Georgian legislation, which is the last resort, when the investigating agency has no other leverage for investigating a crime, other than the decision motivated by a prosecutor and substantiated by the court. Otherwise, the crime cannot be investigated. [...] For this, secret investigative actions are needed”, Okhanashvili added.

He also explained that the “criticism” and remarks of Zourabichvili, the US Embassy and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission were not “legally supported” and had no arguments, adding that the Georgian Government has been working within the framework of the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Council for granting the country the EU membership candidate status and “nothing” could damage Georgia’s European integration process. 

The US Embassy in Georgia issued a statement regarding the overcoming of the President's veto on the ruling Georgian Dream party’s surveillance bill on Tuesday with 79 votes and noted that the Georgian Parliament’s decision to “intentionally” pass wiretapping legislation would move Georgia “away from European integration, not towards it”.

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.