Freedom House Says Interference in Courts Remains Problem in Georgia
The United States-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Freedom House report on Georgia reads that despite ongoing judicial reforms, executive and legislative interference in the courts remains a substantial problem, along with corruption and a lack of transparency and professionalism surrounding judicial proceedings.
The organization says that in December, the High Council of Justice, responsible for nominating judges, presented a list of Supreme Court nominees, but a coalition of NGOs argued that it had used an opaque process and selected judges with tainted reputations.
"The coalition of NGOs called on Parliament to adopt more robust qualification rules and transparent procedures for selecting Supreme Court judges before it considered any nominees from the council”, reads the report.
The report stressed that the office of the country’s public defender has reported problems including a failure to fully implement Constitutional Court rulings, administrative delays in court proceedings, the violation of the accused’s right to a presumption of innocence, and the denial of access to a lawyer upon arrest.
Freedom House added that human rights watchdogs and the ombudsperson continue to express concern about the physical abuse of detainees during arrest and in police custody, and have noted the lack of an independent system for supervising police conduct and addressing claims of mistreatment.
“In July 2018, Parliament approved legislation to establish a new state inspector’s office tasked with investigating police abuses, but it would not be independent from the prosecutor’s office, a shortcoming that drew criticism from human rights groups. Violence and harsh conditions in prisons remain a problem,” the report reads.
On February 4, the United States-based NGO Freedom House released its ‘Freedom in the World 2019’ report.
For the 2019 report, Georgia remained in the partly free category, with a score of 63 points out of a possible 100, among 195 countries.
By Thea Morrison
Related story:
Freedom House 2019: Georgia is “Partly Free”