On 28 July, 2015 Association of Law Firms of Georgia with the support of Open Society Georgia Foundation organized a meeting on the “Decision of Constitutional Court of Georgia on Hearsay evidence”. The meeting was held at Courtyard Marriott hotel Tbilisi.
According to the decision of 22 January, 2015, several provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia, enabling relevant officials to issue a bill of indictment and/or convict a person on the basis of Hearsay evidence, have been declared unconstitutional.
The meeting was attended by the judges of the Constitutional Court Ketevan Eremadze and Maia Kopaleishvili, Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia Alexander Baramidze, the first Deputy of the Chairman of the Supreme Court Zaza Meishvili, Chairman of the Committee of Legal Affairs of the Georgian Parliament Vakhtang Khmaladze, representatives of the local and international NGOs and lawyers of the Association of Law Firms of Georgia.
The participants discussed the importance of the decision of Constitutional Court of Georgia for criminal procedure. Special attention has been given to the problems related to the implementation of the decision, as well as to the role of the legislative and judicial branches in solving existing legal problems and challenges with regard to Hearsay evidence.
At the end of the meeting, participants agreed on the need to introduce special amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia regarding Hearsay evidence. A working group has been formed, unifying the representatives of executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as the local and international organizations.