GYLA believes that even the procedural issues of the criminal case against opposition politicians reveal clear signs of a political component in the case.

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association echoes the issue of the expedited scheduling of trials in the criminal case against leaders of opposition political parties, the expulsion of lawyers (Beka Basilaia and Dimitri Sadzaglishvili) from the courtroom, and the appointment of a public lawyer.

GYLA believes that it is unacceptable for the court to use the mechanism of appointing a public lawyer so arbitrarily that this institution is presented as a weapon against the right of defense.

In addition, the organization believes that the practice of accelerating the scheduling of hearings in this case raises reasonable doubts as to whether it is related to the political processes ongoing in the country, which also raises concerns regarding the full implementation of the guarantees of the right to a fair trial and effective protection.

“As is known to the public, on June 23, during the court hearing in the criminal case, Mikheil Saakashvili’s lawyer Beka Basilaia requested the judge to let him leave the courtroom for a few minutes due to objective necessity, which was refused by the court, which ultimately resulted in the lawyer being expelled from the courtroom on the grounds of contempt of court. Mikheil Saakashvili was not present at the hearing. Tamar Makharoblidze has been appointed a public lawyer for Saakashvili.

On June 25, Judge Tamar Makharoblidze also fined Nika Gvaramia’s lawyer Dimitri Sadzaglishvili and expelled him from the courtroom. The reason was obstruction of the court proceedings. According to Sadzaglishvili, the judge made a completely groundless decision to expel him from the courtroom", - notes GYLA.

According to the organization, the aforementioned decision constitutes a disproportionate restriction of the right of defense, including the right to legal assistance of a person's chosen defense attorney. The expulsion of the lawyer from the hearing and his replacement with a public defense attorney substantially impaired the defense party's ability to effectively exercise its right of defense.

GYLA believes that the ongoing criminal case against opposition politicians also reveals clear signs of political bias.

“Even in the circumstances that Judge T. Makharoblidze did not allow GYLA to attend the proceedings after they were closed, as an impartial observer, GYLA is studying the materials of this case in detail and will inform the public in the future of the appropriate assessment of the substantive and procedural guarantees of the right to a fair trial in this case,” GYLA writes.