News

Public Defender's Statement on Planned Legislative Amendments

As is known to the public, the Parliament of Georgia began to discuss amendments to several legislative acts in an expedited manner this week. In particular, the amendments are planned to be made to: the Law of Georgia on Assemblies and Demonstrations; the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia, the Criminal Code of Georgia, and the Law of Georgia on Police.

The proposed legislative amendments concern important issues, such as establishing various prohibitions for participants in assemblies and demonstrations, including relating to the location of the assembly, the attributes and forms of the assembly; granting the Ministry of Internal Affairs a number of powers when prohibiting or terminating assemblies.

The amendments to the Administrative Offences Code will increase liabilities for a number of violations. They will also change the rules for conducting administrative cases, as well as procedural guarantees during consideration of cases in the court. Along with increasing sanctions, liability for committing insulting acts against representatives of the state authorities will be added to both criminal and administratively punishable actions.

According to the Public Defender, the aforementioned legislative amendments concern the realization of the fundamental rights to assembly, expression and a fair trial and create threats of disproportionate restrictions on these rights.

For years, the Public Defender has been speaking about the shortcomings of the norms regulating both freedom of assembly and expression, as well as administrative offences, and the need to carry out appropriate changes. However, the accelerated consideration of the amendments does not allow all stakeholders to participate in the legislative process. Amending important public issues without appropriate analysis and thorough discussions harms both the legislative process itself and creates risks of restricting constitutional rights.

The Public Defender of Georgia calls on the Parliament not to consider the aforementioned legislative amendments in an accelerated manner and to consider them in accordance with the general procedure established by the Rules of Procedure.

Woking Hours: Monday–Friday 9:00–18:00
Hot line: 1481 (24/7)