News

The Human Rights Center published an analytical document - A Judge’s Authority to Ask Questions during the Hearings on Criminal Cases with Alleged Political Motives.

Given the scarcity of scientific literature on this issue available in the Georgian language, the document at hand aims - through providing the analysis of the December 28, 2021 Judgment of the Constitutional Court of Georgia - to underline the advisability of exercising the judge’s authority to ask questions on the stage of evidence examination, in accordance with the standards set forth by the Constitutional Court of Georgia. Additionally, the document aims to underline the role of a judge and analyze the compatibility of the judges’ engagement in the criminal proceeding at the stage of evidence examination in criminal cases with alleged political motives with the constitutional principle of equality of arms, adversarial principle or/and the impartiality of the court.

The analytical document – considering the subject of the research - focuses on 2 criminal cases monitored by the HRC. 

1. The Case of Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilychova (Cartographers’ Case); 
2. The Case of Besik Tamliani, Emzar Siukaev, Kakhaber Keshikashvili, Stephane Gikoshvili, and Lasha Samkharadze. 

In addition, the document provides an analysis of the judges’ participation in the evidence examination process, as well as the assessment of the compatibility of their “active participation” in the evidence examination stage with the standards established by the Constitutional Court of Georgia.

The Analytical Document was prepared with the financial support of the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Opinions expressed in the Analytical Document are of HRC and do not necessarily represent those of the donor. Therefore, NED is not responsible for the content of the text laid here.