TV Company Channel 9 launched cable broadcasting at the end of April, this year. The Channel is owned by Eka Khvedelidze, the Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s wife (80%) and his nephew (20%). The television was established in a short period of time with well-paid journalists working there. It was well-known that the only donor of the television was the Ivanishvilis family. According to the information submitted by the National Communications’ Commission, income of the television from advertisement and other sources is meager (in the period of May-August, 2012 the reported income from advertisement comprised GEL 177, 365). In view of this, from the day of its opening, Channel 9 was not financially stable and depended completely on its owner’s funding.    

Adjara Supreme Council examines the draft on introducing of amendments to the rule of formation of the Supreme Election Commission (SEC). According to the amendments, the tenure of SEC chairman and members will decrease from five to four years. Furthermore, local monitoring organizations that monitored the past elections at Adjara Autonomous Republic become authorized to nominate candidates for SEC membership, whilst authority of current SEC members will be terminated immediately after amendments enter into force.   

Throughout the recent years there have been important violations committed against media representatives in Georgia. Frequently journalists were deprived of the opportunity to freely pursue their activities; their own equipment and personal safety was frequently at risk. GYLA’s Georgian Media Legal Defense Center has reported a number of similar facts.  

On November 15, 2012, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and Article 42 of the Constitution held a press conference about activities of the working group on political prisoner and IDPs and the statement of political prisoners. 

A conference in frames of the project Advocating the Human Rights Oriented Prison Reform was held on December 10, 2012, organized by Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Article 42 of the Constitution and with support of the following donor organizations: East West Management Institute (EWMI) G-PAC Program and USAID. 

International Anti-Corruption Day is observed annually on December 9. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association traditionally marked the day by holding a presentation of the monitoring report Freedom of Infoprmation in Georgia – 2011 in frames of the human rights series.  

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association marked closing of series of the human rights events with a presentation of the research “Analysis of Criminal and Administrative Cases with Alleged Political Motive. 

In response to GYLA’s press conference, following a statement made by Tbilisi City Hall about the process of rehabilitation of Tbilisi, in order to shed more light to the issue we deem it necessary to provide public with information about issues addressed by the statement of Tbilisi City Hall. 

GYLA Responds to the Release of Secret Video Recording of Personal Lives of Sexual Minority Men by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia. According to the statements released by the office of the prosecutor of Georgia, the office of the prosecutor launched a probe into the alleged abuse of official power by former officials of the MOD’s Military Police Department by exerting violence and outrage upon personal dignity. In particular, according to the investigating authorities, under the instructions of the former head of the MOD’s Military Police Department officials of the department collected information (including secretly taken videos of their sexual relations) about sexual minority men to blackmailing and coercing them into secret cooperation with special services.  

Analysis of practice of adoption of laws by the parliament throughout the recent period illustrates that draft laws are considered and adopted in violation of the standards of transparency and with lack of involvement of stakeholders, which GYLA released a public statement about on December 20. This is particularly problematic in light of the fact that the legislative authorities are considering several important draft laws in expedited manner, and the decision to commence the procedure of consideration of these draft laws was made only last Tuesday.