Appeal to Parliament of Georgia

• Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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On 16 January 2013, the Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary reacted (http://gyla.ge/geo/news?info=1381) to the draft law prepared by the Ministry of Justice (http://www.parliament.ge/files/Draft_Bills/6.02.2013/sisxlis-saproces-2.27.pdf) concerning the regulation of trials with the involvement of jurors. In particular, under the proposed initiative, a jury trial for an accused persons was an obligation instead of the right (as it is defined in the effective Criminal Procedures Code), because the conduct of a court trial without the involvement of jurors was only possible upon the consent of the prosecutor. Moreover, a prosecutor who did not give his/her consent was not required to justify this decision. The Coalition negatively assessed that draft law after which the government withdrew the draft law from the parliament. That move gave rise to positive expectations. Nevertheless, on 4 March 2013, a new initiative on the issue of jury trial was submitted to the parliament, which is identical to the previous document. Consequently, every opinion of the Coalition about the first draft law remains in force today too.

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• Appeal to Parliament of Georgia