On December 26, several NGOs focusing on issues pertinent to elections, expressed their legal opinion about the proposed legislative changes in the Election Code, the Criminal Code and the Law of Georgia on Political Unions of Citizens. Corresponding press-conference was held at Tbilisi Marriot, where Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Transparency International – Georgia, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Coalition for Free Choice and the Open Society – Georgia Foundation released a petition. Any individual or an organization who shares position of the NGOs could sign the petition.

In the petition the NGOs openly expressed their opinion, stating that “unreasonable prohibitions” contained by the legislative initiative limit freedom of expression of private and non-governmental organizations and ordinary citizens.

Representatives of the NGOs explained to media and public meaning of the stipulations contained by proposed changes, as they can be difficult for ordinary citizens to understand due to the professional terminology used.

According to the information reported by internet publication Livepress.ge and provided to Media Legal Defense Center, representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Georgia held a meeting with local population to discuss issues related to Reserve Military Service in Zugdidi Theatre; however, Livepress.ge was prohibited from attending the meeting; neither was it provided with verbal information about the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, journalists were trying to obtain information by interviewing participants who were exiting the building but a representative of the Defense Ministry, Mamuka Iosava took away their camera and deleted recorded material, stating illegal arguments.

Yesterday internet publication netgazeti.ge released information on the Ministry of Defense apologizing about the noted fact.

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Transparency International – Georgia, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Coalition for Free Choice and the Open Society – Georgia Foundation held a press conference on changes in the organic law of Georgia on Political Unions of Citizens.

On December 28, 2011, Parliament of Georgia passed unconstitutional changes in the organic law of Georgia on Political Unions of Citizens.

According to the new regulations, political unions as well as legal entities that are directly or indirectly affiliated with a political party or are otherwise controlled by a political party or have declared political goals and objectives, will be obligated to return donations that they have received from legal persons within three days after the law comes into effect. Otherwise, the money will become the property of the state. 

10th Session of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was held on December 12021, 2011, in New-York.

The Assembly of State Parties is the management oversight and legislative body of the International Criminal Court.

The Assembly elected Fatou Bensouda (Gambia) as the new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who assumed the office on June 16, 2012 for the period of 9 years.

NGOs are protesting signing of the unconstitutional changes concerning vote buying that were made in the organic law of Georgia on Political Unions of Citizens and the Criminal Code of Georgia on December 28, 2011. 

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Transparency Internationa – Georgia, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Coalition for Free Choice and the Open Society – Georgia Foundation held a press-conference on December 28 where they expressed their opinion about the bills adopted by the parliament and called on the President of Georgia, Mr. Mikheil Saakashvili to prevent violation of the principles of utmost importance guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia and the international law and to use the power of veto granted by the Constitution. Nevertheless, the President signed the draft of legislative changes.

As we believe that the legislative changes contradict the Constitution of Georgia, NGOs held a protest rally outside the President’s Administration with a slogan We Protest!

Recently new regulations in the Law of Georgia on Political Union of Citizens adopted by the parliament have been discussed. As questions about the topic still remain, we would like to draw public attention to the procedures that were followed in the process of adoption of the Law.

We believe that the law on changes in the law on Political Unions was adopted by the parliament in violation of the procedures prescribed by the Regulations. Article 2 of the law (obligation of political unions and entities that are directly or indirectly affiliated with them to return unspent donations that they have received in violation of the law to their provider) was inserted in the draft law following the third committee reading, which constituted violation of the Regulations of the Parliament of Georgia. Under para. 4 of Article 155 of the Regulations, “at the third reading of the draft law, only editorial corrections shall be adopted”.

Furthermore, the formulation of Article 2 of the draft law as presented during the third reading is different from the one posted on the official website of the Legislative Herald of Georgia, which creates ambiguity in view of the fact that MPs have not expressed any comments about the content and the formulation of the Article.

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association responds to the Order of the Minister of Justice of Georgia N158, dated December 29, 2011. The order adopted “Procedures for Drawing Up, Adopting (Issuing), Sending, Registering, Systematizing and Publishing a Normative Act (Draft Normative Act) by Using Automated Means of Management”

Under para. 5 of Article 8 of the noted Procedure, “the [Legislative] Herald [of Georgia] is authorized to correct editorial errors in a normative act, which entails correcting orthographic or punctuation errors(s) in a normative act without changing contents of a normative act”.

GYLA deems application of the noted authority of the Legislative Herald of Georgia to laws adopted by the Parliament of Georgia as absolutely unacceptable. None of the agencies, except for the parliament, should have an opportunity to correct any mistakes - including editorial - in texts adopted by the parliament, as it would conflict with the constitutional authority of the parliament. Regulations of the Parliament of Georgia provide for adoption of editorially correct legislative act. In fact, third hearing of a draft law serves the purpose of preventing errors that are editorial in nature.

Regarding the Issues of Granting Compensation to Victims of Repression

GYLA and the European Human Rights Advocacy Center (EHRAC) will present their submission about enforcement of the judgment delivered by the ECHR in Klaus and Yuri Kiladze v Georgia.

For the purpose of enforcement of the February 2, 2010 judgment delivered by the ECHR in Klaus and Yuri Kiladze v Georgia, legislative amendments were made in May 2011, delegating Tbilisi City Court with the authority to consider the issue of granting compensation to victims of repression and their first generation heirs and to determine the amount of compensation.

GYLA and EHRAC have already applied once the CoE Committee of Ministers by submitting their communication on May 30, 2011. The organizations were requesting the Committee of Ministers to continue monitoring of enforcement of the ECHR’s judgment in the Kiladze case, which would have established practice of application of the legislative amendments by national courts and afterwards, the Committee of Ministers would have been able to evaluate whether the laws were implemented in due course.

Regarding the Issues of Granting Compensation to Victims of Repression

GYLA and the European Human Rights Advocacy Center (EHRAC) will present their submission about enforcement of the judgment delivered by the ECHR in Klaus and Yuri Kiladze v Georgia.

For the purpose of enforcement of the February 2, 2010 judgment delivered by the ECHR in Klaus and Yuri Kiladze v Georgia, legislative amendments were made in May 2011, delegating Tbilisi City Court with the authority to consider the issue of granting compensation to victims of repression and their first generation heirs and to determine the amount of compensation.

GYLA and EHRAC have already applied once the CoE Committee of Ministers by submitting their communication on May 30, 2011. The organizations were requesting the Committee of Ministers to continue monitoring of enforcement of the ECHR’s judgment in the Kiladze case, which would have established practice of application of the legislative amendments by national courts and afterwards, the Committee of Ministers would have been able to evaluate whether the laws were implemented in due course.

Georgian Young Lawyers` Association (GYLA), Transparency International – Georgia (TI) and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) declare that the December 2011 amendments to the organic Law of Georgia on the Political Union of Citizens and the Criminal Code of Georgia, jeopardize freedom of expression and freedom of property and will have a restrictive effect on civil-political activities. Furthermore, most of the legal prohibitions imposed are unreasonable, the sanctions disproportionate and it creates an uneven election environment.