Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze held a meeting with the representatives of the Georgian diaspora in Dublin and congratulated the Sunday school students on the start of the new academic year. Representatives of the Justice Ministry and Georgian Ambassador to Ireland, Giorgi Zurabashvili also attended the meeting.

The conversation touched upon the relations between the diaspora and the state and legislative changes and projects tailored to the interests of compatriots living abroad. Georgians living in Ireland expressed their satisfaction regarding the reduction of fees for receiving passports and identity cards.

The Minister noted that on the instructions of the Prime Minister, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a legislative initiative is being prepared, which will further contribute to the achievement of the goals defined by the Diaspora Strategy.

Within the framework of the ministerial held in Dublin, Rati Bregadze visited today the penitentiary institution of Dublin and met with the Director General of the Irish Prison Service, Caron McCaffrey.

At the meeting, the Minister of Justice of Georgia stated that protecting the rights of persons with limited freedom at a high level is the main priority of the Ministry; The development of penitentiary, probation and crime prevention systems is carried out in accordance with the best European and international standards.

Rati Bregadze introduced to Caron McCaffrey, the innovations introduced in penitentiary institutions in the direction of rehabilitation and re-socialization. The subject of special interest of the Irish colleagues was the digital university and sports management system. At the invitation of Rati Bregadze, the delegation of the Prison Service of Ireland will visit Georgia. The purpose of the visit will be to share Georgian experience and plan joint projects.

Speaking to the Director General, the Minister of Justice also emphasized the importance of small prisons. Rati Bregadze said that this type of prison will be opened in Georgia by the end of this year.

The Minister of Justice is in Ireland at the ministerial meeting of the member states of the Council of Europe. The event is dedicated to the discussion of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

The Minister of Justice of Estonia emphasized the "amazing progress" that Georgia has achieved on the path to European integration:

"Georgia has made great progress in the European integration process. It really deserves to become part of Europe, the European Union, and I really hope that it will happen in the near future, because the progress is really amazing.”

The meeting was also attended by First Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia, Tamar Tkeshelashvili and Deputy Minister, Beka Dzamashvili.

The issues of expanding the relationship between the Ministries of Justice of Georgia and Estonia and the European integration of Georgia were discussed today by the ministers of justice of the two countries at a meeting held in Dublin.

Rati Bregadze is in Ireland to participate in the ministerial meetings of the member states of the Council of Europe.

Rati Bregadze spoke to Lea Danilson-Järg about further deepening of the partnership between the two countries' ministries of justice and the signing of a memorandum. For this purpose, he invited his Estonian counterpart to Tbilisi. According to Rati Bregadze, the document will create a solid basis for close cooperation in the field of justice, rule of law and human rights and will support the immediate implementation of new initiatives.

At the meeting, Rati Bregadze thanked Lea Danilson-Järg for the help provided by Estonia to Georgia on the path of integration with the European Union and expressed confidence that our country will continue to have strong support from Estonia in the process of obtaining the status of a candidate country for the European Union.

"We had an interesting dialogue with the Estonian colleague about the current relations and specific perspectives for future cooperation. Estonia is a friendly and supportive state of Georgia. Accordingly, we express our hope that joint efforts aimed at further strengthening of legal cooperation will definitely bring success on the path of European integration of Georgia", said Rati Bregadze after the meeting.

The Minister of Justice of Estonia emphasized the "amazing progress" that Georgia has achieved on the path to European integration:

"Georgia has made great progress in the European integration process. It really deserves to become part of Europe, the European Union, and I really hope that it will happen in the near future, because the progress is really amazing.”

The meeting was also attended by First Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia, Tamar Tkeshelashvili and Deputy Minister, Beka Dzamashvili.

First Deputy Minister of Justice, Tamar Tkeshelashvili and Deputy Minister, Beka Dzamashvili also participate in the conference.

Within the framework of the Dublin conference, a declaration on the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence in the family will be adopted. The declaration calls on states to strengthen national mechanisms for tackling domestic violence, violence against women; Focus on the rehabilitation of perpetrators and correction of violent behavior, and urge states to ratify the Istanbul Convention.

A ministerial meeting of the member states of the Council of Europe is being held in Dublin, which deals with issues of prevention of domestic and gender-based violence. The heads of the ministries of justice of European countries are attending the conference. The Georgian delegation is headed by Rati Bregadze.

The Minister of Justice of Georgia delivered a speech today at the event and talked about the institutional and legal reforms that have been implemented in the country to tackle violence against women and the family.

The Minister noted that the fight against gender-based violence is one of the priorities of the Georgian government.

"Gender equality, elimination and prevention of violence against women and domestic violence remains one of the priorities on the Georgian government's agenda. The legal and institutional reforms carried out over the past years are the best illustration of our approach to gender. Our policy is based on 4 principles: prevention of violence, protection of victims, effective investigation and interagency cooperation. All these directions are fully reflected in the legal and institutional mechanisms, including in the second national strategy and thematic action plans for the protection of human rights in Georgia for 2022-2030", - noted the Minister of Justice.

First Deputy Minister of Justice, Tamar Tkeshelashvili and Deputy Minister, Beka Dzamashvili also participate in the conference.

Within the framework of the Dublin conference, a declaration on the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence in the family will be adopted. The declaration calls on states to strengthen national mechanisms for tackling domestic violence, violence against women; Focus on the rehabilitation of perpetrators and correction of violent behavior, and urge states to ratify the Istanbul Convention.

The Minister of Justice spoke about Georgia's European perspective at the meeting with the members of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Working Group of the European Union.

Rati Bregadze thanked the guests for supporting the reforms implemented in Georgia and the country's western aspiration, which was manifested by the successful completion of the association process and economic integration with the EU countries.

Rati Bregadze spoke to the members of the delegation about the priority directions of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. The conversation touched on the 12 recommendations that Georgia must fulfill in order to receive the status of a candidate country. According to Rati Bregadze, for this purpose, thematic working groups have been created in the Parliament of Georgia, with which the Ministry of Justice, within its competence, actively cooperates.

The Minister expressed his firm belief that Georgia will continue to have the support of the European Union on the way to European integration, and in the near future the country will be able to receive the status of a candidate country for EU membership.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

The parties discussed the issues of deepening bilateral cooperation in the field of justice and agreed that they will work actively to sign the extradition agreement between Georgia and the USA. Rati Bregadze thanked Bruce Schwartz for his support of the reforms implemented and ongoing under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice.

In order to further deepen the cooperation, the Minister expressed the initiative of concluding a memorandum between the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and the US Department of Justice.

The conversation touched on the implementation of exchange programs for the employees of the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Justice. The parties also discussed the possibility of holding a Georgian-American legal forum.

"We are happy to meet with Mr. Schwartz at the Ministry of Justice. We reviewed concrete successful examples of existing cooperation between our agencies. Also, we discussed new initiatives, the implementation of which will bring Georgian-American relations to a new, even higher level in the field of law," said Rati Bregadze.

Bruce Schwartz invited the Minister of Justice to Washington:

"On behalf of the United States Department of Justice, let me say what a great honor it was for me to meet with the Minister and to have the opportunity to discuss with him the issues of the rule of law, and how we advanced the rule of law both in our countries and globally. We talked about the work we are doing collectively on penitentiary and probation systems and wide variety of other issues. We discussed the common goals we have in this context. We noted the fact that we have the potential for discussing an extradition treaty between our two countries, which would further strengthen the relationship and demonstrate the importance of this relationship to both our countries and to the peoples of our countries, so once again, thank you for having me here at the Ministry, I look forward to visits in the futres and I hope to see the delegation of the Ministry of Justice and the Minister in Washington as well," he said.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze spoke today about the priority of cooperation with Eurojust and EU countries during the meeting with Eurojust President, Ladislav Hamran.

The Minister drew attention to the excellent cooperation between Georgia and EU member states in the field of extradition and criminal law.

At the meeting, it was emphasized that strong sectoral cooperation helps the country in the process of European integration, and hope was expressed that after receiving the perspective of the European Union, the process will end positively with the granting of candidate status to Georgia in the near future.

In addition, at the meeting, the parties talked about the possibility of training and work exchange programs between agencies.

Rati Bregadze met Ladislav Hamran at the Ministry of Justice. Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

For information: Eurojust is the European Union's body for cooperation in the field of criminal justice. Its main activity is the coordination of the cooperation of EU member states in criminal cases, including non-EU partner states in the process of European integration. The agreement between Georgia and Eurojust was signed in 2019.

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze hosted today the Ombudsman of the Republic of Turkey, Sheref Malkoc. The parties discussed the successful cooperation with Turkey in the field of criminal law and shared recommendations and opinions regarding the protection of human rights in this field.

Topics of discussion covered specific cooperation initiatives, the implementation of which will make the existing strategic and friendly relations between Georgia and Turkey even more intense.

The Minister introduced to the Ombudsman of the Republic of Turkey the priorities of the Ministry's activities, which are outlined in the 10-year Action Plan of the Ministry. Among them, one of the priorities of the Ministry is the reform of penitentiary and probation systems.

According to the Minister, it is important for the agency to further develop the indicated systems in accordance with the best European and international standards, for which a number of thematic reforms are being carried out.

As it was mentioned at the meeting, work is underway in Georgia to further develop the approaches to the rehabilitation and re-socialization of the convicts, in the process of which the interests and needs of foreign prisoners are equally taken into account.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting held at the Ministry of Justice.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe discussed the "Georgia against Russia (I)" (the so-called "deportation case") at the September debate of this year. At the session, the Georgian representation emphasized the importance of the implementation of the decision of the Strasbourg court in the case under consideration and voiced a clear position that despite the termination of the status of a member of the Council of Europe for the Russian Federation, the respondent state still remains unconditionally obliged to implement the decision.

Within the debates of the Committee of Ministers, the absolute majority of the delegations strongly condemned Russia's non-fulfilment of the above-mentioned obligation and fully shared the position of the representatives of Georgia.

Within the framework of the resolution, the Committee expressed its deep regret that, despite signing the memorandum of understanding, the Russian authorities have not paid the amount awarded to the victims by the European Court. According to the Committee of Ministers, the delay in the execution of the decision particularly harms the interests of the victims.

At the initiative of the Georgian side, the Committee of Ministers called on the member states to use all means to ensure the execution of the case. At the same time, the Committee shared the position of the Georgian side that in the conditions of the termination of the status of a member of the Council of Europe for Russia, it is necessary to develop a strategy for the supervision of the implementation of the decisions taken against Russia, with the involvement of all member states, and instructed the Secretariat of the Committee to submit relevant proposals and a vision for the implementation of the case under consideration before the next session, which will be held in December 2022.

As is known to the public, according to the decision of the Strasbourg Court of January 31, 2019, the Russian government was obliged to pay 10,000,000 euros to the Georgian side to be transferred to the victims who were victims of mass deportation from Russia in 2006. However, despite the efforts of the Georgian side and the Committee of Ministers, which ended with the signing of a memorandum of understanding at the end of 2021, Russia has not yet paid the amount.

At the initiative of the Georgian side, the Committee will return to the consideration of the deportation case at the next session, in December 2022.