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.

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze visited today the Mukhatgadze Brothers Cemetery together with the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili and members of the Cabinet of Ministers. The head of the government and the ministers laid a wreath at the Heroes' Memorial as a sign of respect to the memory of those who died in the August 2008 war.

15 years have passed since Russia's military intervention in Georgia. The Ministry of Justice of Georgia, within its competence, protects the legal security of Georgia in international courts and prepares the legal basis for the further de-occupation of the country.

in particular,

In the Strasbourg court, the interstate dispute against Russia on the August war case was won;

The Russian Federation is obliged to pay up to 130 million euros for the benefit of up to 24,000 Georgian citizens who suffered during the war;

All (up to 3,300) cases related to the August war against Georgia, which were filed by the residents of Tskhinvali region with the coordination of Russia, have been won.

Proceedings against Russia in the case of continued occupation are in an active phase;

The investigation of the Russia-Georgia war case has been completed at the Hague Court; Arrest warrants have been issued for three persons who committed crimes against the population of Georgia.

The State Fund for Protection and Assistance of (statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking held a training today for the employees of shelters and crisis centers, and 28 representatives of the Agency took part in it.

Within the framework of the training, attention was focused on the forms of exploitation characteristic of minors' trafficking, the stages of psychological development of children, the technique of establishing contact with minor victims and the issue of children living and/or working on the street.

Raising the qualifications of relevant specialists on these issues is one of the priority directions of the 2023-2024 action plan for combating trafficking. Its purpose is to improve protection and assistance services for victims of human trafficking and to introduce effective mechanisms for their rehabilitation.

The training was organized by the Interagency Coordinating Council implementing measures against human trafficking, with the financial support of the European Union and in cooperation with the International Center for the Development of Migration Policy.

The training was held within the framework of the project - "Strengthening the impact of migration on development in Georgia" (STREAMinG) - which is implemented by the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) with the financing of the European Union and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).