Rati Bregadze held a meeting today with the members of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). At the meeting, the Minister of Justice discussed the ongoing reforms within the Ministry and emphasized the importance of cooperation with the PACE Monitoring Committee in the way of promoting the rule of law and human rights.

The conversation touched on the victories achieved by Georgia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the sharp decrease in applications against Georgia. In particular, ten years ago, the Strasbourg Court had to deal with about 3,000 cases against Georgia, and this year - only 147, which is the result of the reforms implemented by the Georgian government and the strengthening of citizens' trust in domestic courts.

At the meeting, it was noted that last year, in order to strengthen the enforcement of Strasbourg court decisions at the national level, legislative changes were implemented, which is one of the recommendations of the 12 priorities of the European Union implemented by the Georgian authorities.

According to the Minister, the agency continues to work to strengthen human rights. For this purpose, a new penitentiary code and strategy have been developed, re-socialization and rehabilitation programs for prisoners are actively underway, a digital university has been created for convicts, employment opportunities have been expanded, a sports management strategy has been developed, a new prison in Laituri will be opened at the end of spring to solve the problem of prison overcrowding.