Non-governmental organizations are releasing a statement about the cases of persons arrested on March 2-3 and 7-9.

According to the information of the third sector, most of the time, the representatives of the Ministry contact the citizens late at night and inform them that they have to appear in court the next morning, or they provide this information only 1-2 hours in advance.

In addition, the processes of persons and their lawyers who have been waiting all day are often postponed to another time, however, the court informs the parties about this only after waiting all day, late at night.

Due to the mentioned circumstances, the non-governmental sector calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to notify the parties of the date of submission of administrative offenses cases to the court in a reasonable period of time and to provide the materials in the case to the parties in a timely manner, before the start of the process.

The statement calls on the court to conduct the consideration of cases in an organized manner, to provide timely information on the date and time of the trial, and to give the parties the opportunity to participate in the proceedings with their lawyers during working hours.

"As it is known to the public, on March 2-3 and 7-9, 2023, parallel to the use of force against peaceful civil protests, there was a massive illegal arrest of demonstrators. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Internal Affairs made a decision to release the detainees from administrative detention, the issue of imposing administrative responsibility on them is still on the agenda. At the moment, the discussion of cases has not been completed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will gradually submit administrative offense cases against the demonstrators to the court.

Apart from the fact that the court's unsubstantiated rulings and disproportionately high fines deserve criticism, on the one hand, the Ministry's bringing cases to the court and on the other hand, the court's review of the cases are proceeding in a completely disorganized manner.

Most of the time, the representatives of the Ministry contact the citizens late at night and inform them that they have to appear in court the next morning or they provide this information only 1-2 hours before. At this time, the duty judge of the Administrative Affairs Board participates in the consideration of the cases in the court, whose identity is often unknown, and even after understanding the identity of the judge on duty, it is impossible to get information from the court regarding the time of the proceedings.

Under these conditions, the lawyers of the organizations involved in the protection of the rights of detained persons, from morning till late at night, against the background of the lack of working conditions and space, have to wait in court in vain, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for the whole day, which is completely unjustified. Under these conditions, it is impossible to effectively protect the trustee, as well as to find witnesses and other types of evidence in a timely manner and submit them to the court.

It is also worrying that the processes of persons and their lawyers who have been waiting all day are often postponed to another time, however, the court informs the parties about this only after waiting all day, late at night.

Considering the above, the signatory organizations call on:

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia:

to notify the parties of the date of submission of administrative offense cases to the court in a reasonable period of time;

to ensure that the materials in the case are transferred to the parties in a timely manner, before the start of the process.

Court:

to conduct the case review in an organized manner, provide timely information about the date and time of the trial and give the parties, together with their lawyers, the opportunity to participate in the proceedings within working hours;

to give the lawyers the opportunity to have proper communication with his attorney, including providing the appropriate space for the meeting;

Taking into account the appeal of the citizens, to postpone the consideration of the cases for the period that may be necessary for the search of evidence useful to the party and for its effective defense," the statement said.

The organizations that signed the joint statement are: GYLA, Transparency International - Georgia, ISFED, Rights Georgia, Open Society Foundation, Supporting Group of Women's Initiatives ( WISG), Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI), Human Rights Center (HRC), Center for Social Justice.