The Public Defender offers recommendations to the Parliament regarding the amnesty bill

Public defender Levan Ioseliani issues a special statement regarding the amnesty bill.

In the statement, the Public Defender welcomes the implementation of adequate and fair relief mechanisms and approaches towards the prisoners. At the same time, he hopes that public safety risks will be insured as well.

As the Ombudsman points out, amnesty is a humane political act and the public defender, considering his mandate, cannot give concrete recommendations to the parliament for what crimes or within what scope amnesty should apply to convicted persons. On the other hand, at the level of principles, the Office of the Public Defender offered its vision to the Parliament of Georgia in three specific directions.

In particular, the recommendation of the Public Defender is:

"In the process of reviewing the Amnesty Act, a discussion should be held regarding convicts sentenced to life imprisonment, who have served a reasonable term of their sentence, and the possibility of extending amnesty to them should be considered, taking into account that the General Amnesty Act adopted in 2012 was only formally applied to the mentioned category of convicts, but in practice they did not have the opportunity to benefit from the benefits. At the same time, it is possible to develop additional conditions, which will be able to determine the circle of persons who can be replaced by life imprisonment with term imprisonment.

The Public Defender proposes to the Parliament to take a more loyal approach towards those prisoners who are affected by the amnesty, however, additionally, they have chronic and/or incurable diseases;

Special care should be taken in the process of releasing those convicted of domestic violence. In particular, it is necessary to protect the interests and safety of the victims in the process of obtaining their consent; And they should be able to express their free will, without any coercion or illegal influences. Among them, it is possible to involve the relevant agencies in this process or interview the victim before the court, so that on the one hand, the judge is convinced of the position of the victim and on the other hand, the court can determine the adequate conditions of the protective order, which ensures the effective protection of the victim.

The Public Defender is ready to hold an additional working meeting with the initiators of the draft law and all interested groups. At the same time, he welcomes the will expressed by the Parliament in this direction", the statement of the Public Defender says.

In addition, according to the Public Defender's information, we would like to point out here that during the last few days there was a high interest from the public regarding the current situation in penitentiary institutions regarding the amnesty act. Accordingly, based on the notifications received from penitentiary institutions, on July 17 and 18, 2024, the representatives of the Public Defender were in penitentiary institutions N2, N3, N5, N6, N8 and N14.

"As a result of the visits, it became known to the apparatus that 8 convicts were on hunger strike in these institutions with the request to extend the scope of the amnesty law. 14 persons deprived of liberty for life were also on hunger strike in the N8 penitentiary institution, which had already stopped their hunger strike at the time of the visit.

The representatives of the Public Defender's Office will continue to meet with prisoners in other penitentiary institutions as well," the Ombudsman's statement said.