The Ministry of Justice continues to implement an innovative, unprecedented worldwide project - Rati Bregadze opened the third branch of the Public Service Hall in Gldani Penitentiary No. 8.

The Public Service Hall provides prisoners with unlimited access to more than 50 public and private sector services. The branches will also serve the employees of the penitentiary service.

Today, as part of the ongoing reform in the penitentiary system, a new canteen space was opened in Gldani prison, which will further increase the quality of food safety.

The canteen will serve 3000 convicts and accused persons. 8 types of menu are also prepared for prisoners with various diseases and are fully adapted to their health needs. There are 17 convicts employed in the space who receive respective compensation.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Erekle Gvinianidze, Head of the Special Penitentiary Service, Nika Tshvarashvili and Chairperson of the Public Service Hall, Lasha Lobjanidze attended the opening of the Public Service Hall and canteen space in Gldani Penitentiary No. 8.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Buba Lomuashvili held a working meeting today with United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Gerard Quinn.

The conversation touched upon the measures implemented and planned by the Ministry of Justice aimed at improving the rights of persons with disabilities within the system. Attention was focused on issues such as: the Law of Georgia "on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities", the involvement of the representatives of the disabled community in the policy planning process by the Ministry, the legal status of the convicts/accused persons with disabilities placed in the penitentiary and their living conditions, etc.

Gerard Quinn was on a special visit to Georgia, the purpose of which is to evaluate the steps taken in the direction of protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in the country and the respective experience.

The Special Rapporteur will submit a report on the current situation in Georgia at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2024.

Special attention was paid to the programs of preparing convicts for release, combating drug addiction and stress management. The Georgian delegation also got acquainted with the standards of placing convicts in solitary confinement and de-escalation room and inspected the construction of the training center of the penitentiary service.

The introduction of re-socialisation and rehabilitation programs in accordance with European standards

Minister of Justice of Georgia, Rati Brigadze held a meeting with Minister of Justice of the Republic of Latvia, Inese Libina-Egnere to discuss new opportunities for expanding bilateral cooperation in the context of European integration of Georgia.

Rati Bregadze is in Riga on an official visit to the conference organised by Latvia, which is attended by the Ministers of Justice of the member states of the Council of Europe.

Within the framework of the ministerial session, the Minister of Justice of Georgia held bilateral meetings with the Ministers of Justice of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as the EU member states - Croatia, Cyprus and Finland.

Rati Bregadze discussed concrete initiatives for deepening cooperation in the European integration process of Georgia with his counterparts. In particular, European experts will share Georgia's experience in the process of bringing the country's legislation closer to EU law.

The Minister of Justice of Georgia introduced the reforms implemented in the direction of the penitentiary system and state services to the partners.

The conversation also touched upon the international conference planned in Georgia in November, the topic of which will be innovative approaches in the process of rehabilitation of prisoners and probationers.

The meetings were also attended by Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili and Ambassador of Georgia to Latvia, Irakli Kurashvili.

With today's decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) confirmed that Nicanor Melia's arrest and preventive detention were legal and in full compliance with the standards of the European Convention. At the same time, the court unequivocally established that there were no political motives in Nikanor Melia's arrest and did not share the arguments of the applicant.

As is known to the public, during the June 2019 rally, a part of the citizens gathered at the rally under the leadership and direct participation of Nicanor Melia tried to break into the Parliament. In view of the above, he was charged with organising, directing and participating in group violence and was granted bail in the amount of 30,000 GEL as a preventive measure. The court ordered his electronic surveillance.

At the rally on November 1, 2020, Nicanor Melia removed his electronic monitoring bracelet as a sign of protest, thereby violating the conditions of his bail. Accordingly, the Tbilisi City Court increased the bail amount by 40,000 GEL. Since Nikanor Melia refused to pay the bail, according to the court's decision, he was replaced with a preventive measure - bail by imprisonment. After posting bail, he was released on May 10, 2021.

The European Court fully shared the argumentation of the Ministry of Justice (along with the evidence presented) and considered that no article of the European Convention was violated against the applicant.

First Deputy Minister of Justice, Tamar Tkeshelashvili held a working meeting today with Public Defender of Georgia, Levan Ioseliani. The First Deputy Minister spoke about the importance of the right to property and in this context emphasised the role of the Ministry of Justice and the Public Registry in the process of realising fundamental human rights.

Chairman of the National Public Registry Agency, Davit Devidze presented an intermediate presentation to Levan Ioseliani about the results of the reforms aimed at systematic land registration, re-registration of business entities and address registration in Georgia.

Institutional capacities of the National Public Registry Agency in terms of gender balance and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities were also discussed at the meeting.

The conversation touched on the labor rights of the employees of the Ministry of Justice. It was noted that the Ministry is an agency focused on the interests of the employees and constantly takes care of improving their conditions.

The Ministry of Justice will continue its close cooperation with the Public Defender's Office in the future.

The Swiss delegation was hosted by First Deputy Minister of Justice, Tamar Tkeshelashvili representing the State Commission on Migration Issues of Georgia.

"The migration management systems in Georgia and Switzerland are practically identical, which is a guarantee of the success of bilateral cooperation," said Tamar Tkeshelashvili during the meeting with Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration,

Christina Probst-Lopez.

During the bilateral consultations, the parties discussed such issues as: Prevention of illegal migration, asylum issues, project cooperation and other areas provided by the memorandum.

In addition to the Ministry of Justice, representatives of various member state agencies of the State Commission on Migration were involved in the working meeting.

The German delegation is in Tbilisi within the framework of the 2022-2025 program of cooperation between Georgia and Germany, which was signed last year by the Ministers of Justice of Georgia and Germany in Berlin.

First Deputy Minister of Justice, Tamar Tkeshelashvili noted at the meeting that one of the agency's priorities is the penitentiary system in Georgia, which corresponds to the best European and international standards, and in this regard sharing experience between the two countries is very valuable.

Since the beginning of the new wave of reform of the penitentiary system by the Ministry of Justice, Georgia has already had significant tangible results: infrastructure projects, rehabilitation and re-socialisation programs, expansion of employment opportunities for convicts, improvement of the conditions of employees and prisoners, further development of penitentiary health care, strengthening of the IT infrastructure in the penitentiary system, and professional opportunities of employees.

The Ministry of Justice has also developed a new penitentiary strategy and a new penitentiary code, one of the important directions of which is the refinement of approaches to the rehabilitation and re-socialisation of convicts. In addition, a sports management strategy has been developed, which creates a platform for the involvement of convicts in sports activities, which contributes to a healthy lifestyle and reintegration and re-socialisation.

A new and innovative service "Online Clinic" has been introduced in the penitentiary system, which provides quick access to healthcare services for convicts.

The construction of new small-scale penitentiary institutions is planned. In September of this year, a small-scale facility will be opened in Laituri, and construction has begun in St. in Rustavi.

The innovations introduced in Georgia were interesting for the German side - the Public Service Hall in penitentiary institutions, online university and "re-market". Minister of Justice of the Federal Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, Benjamin Limbach, noted that the reforms implemented by Georgia in the penitentiary system in recent years were clearly visible during the visit to the penitentiary institutions, and Georgia's aspiration to share the best European experience is welcome.