Session N1

17.07.2019

The first meeting of the Consultative Council was attended by all ten members of the Council approved on the basis of the Regulations. Namely, Dimitri Khachidze, Sophio Asatiani, Marina Kapanadze, Ani Nasrashvili, Tamta Kakhidze, Giorgi Gogia, Maia Mtsariashvili, Ketevan Chomakhashvili, Giorgi Noniashvili and Amiran Giguashvili. In addition, on the basis of the Public Defender’s decision, the first session of the Consultative Council was attended by the Head of Transparency International Georgia, Eka Gigauri.

The Council was headed by Public Defender Nino Lomjaria. The session was attended by the Deputies of the Public Defender - Giorgi Burjanadze and Ekaterine Skhiladze, as well as the employees of the Department of Criminal Justice - Aldona Kachibaia, Nino Trapaidze and Gvantsa Chkhaidze.

The Public Defender spoke about the purpose of the establishment of the Council and introduced the scope and goal of the Public Defender’s involvement in the investigation of the criminal case of alleged abuse of power by the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on 20-21 June 2019.

Deputy Public Defender Giorgi Burjanadze introduced the results of efforts made by the Public Defender's Office to the Council and summarized the information obtained as a result of examination of the case (without identifying the persons involved in the investigative activities or disclosing information containing state secrets).

Members of the Council showed interest in organizational issues, as well as the specificity of the monitoring carried out by the Public Defender and the scope of the Council's authority.

Members of the Council expressed their opinions about the best practices of planning and implementing the dispersal of rallies in case of necessity, as well as about how the Ministry of Internal Affairs should have acted on 20-21 June, both before and after the dispersal of the rally. The main attention was paid to the proportionality of the force used, the special weapons applied, their examination and documentation of the force used after the dispersal of the rally.

The Public Defender received recommendations about what to focus on during the examination of the case. For this purpose, the necessity of determining the responsibility of high officials, actions of persons who executed the order and the responsibility of those who were responsible for those actions, were emphasized at the session.

Members of the Council, as well as the Public Defender, believe that the investigation should be carried out not only in the direction of the abuse of power by individual employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and that the interest of the investigation should also be to determine the systematic nature of alleged criminal acts. The purpose of the investigation should be to restore the full picture of the events of June 20-21, which implies both the determination of the lawfulness of the decision on the dispersal the rally and the legitimacy of its implementation.