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Minister of Justice Meets Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe to Discuss the Progress Achieved in the Field of Human Rights Protection
Rati Bregadze and Bjorn Berge discussed today the results of reforms of the justice and penitentiary systems.
The Minister of Justice noted the progress achieved by Georgia, which is demonstrated by the statistics of cases submitted to the European Court of Human Rights from Georgia. In particular, according to the data of January 2023, the European Court received 147 applications from Georgia, which represents a historical minimum. For comparison, by 2011, Strasbourg received 3045 cases against Georgia.
Special attention was paid to the legal status of prisoners. The Minister of Justice emphasized the fact that the systemic problem of inhuman treatment and torture has been completely eliminated in Georgian prisons, which is confirmed by a number of international authoritative organizations, including the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). It was noted that since 2012, the European Court of Human Rights has not received any lawsuits from Georgian prisons.
The parties discussed the new penitentiary code, the Digital University, projects for rehabilitation and re-socialization of prisoners, the strategy of replacing large open penitentiary institutions with small-scale prisons, etc.
The importance of the implementation of decisions made by the Strasbourg Court in interstate cases was noted, according to which the responsibility for massive human rights violations during the August 2008 war rests with the Russian Federation.
The importance of effective cooperation with the Council of Europe in the process of Georgia's integration into the European Union was emphasized.
Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.