Draft law on amnesty registered in Parliament of Georgia
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, December 17
Mikheil Sarjveladze, Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration, held a briefing on the initiation of the draft law on amnesty in the Parliament. According to him, the bill provides for the release from criminal liability and appropriate punishment of those who committed certain crimes under the bill before December 11, 2020, although the bill does not provide for some crimes such as murder or domestic violence.
The proposed amnesty initiative implies several principled approaches, according to which: 1. In the case of crimes specified in the draft law, which are related to causing property damage to the victim, in such a case, the obligatory precondition for release from the sentence will be compensation for damages, and in certain cases - the consent of the victim; 2. In some cases, no conviction is also a precondition. 3. It is also envisaged to release persons from the criminal fine imposed before October 1, 2012.
The presented bill, according to the above-mentioned approaches, includes a rather large list of crimes that will be subject to amnesty. According to Sarjveladze, these are theft, forgery, damage to property, some categories of bodily harm, etc. The amnesty covers a total of 44 offenses.
“By initiating this bill, we are opening consultations with stakeholders, during the process of which it will be possible to hear different opinions on the final version of the law to be adopted. At present, our initiative also includes drug crimes, in addition to key crimes,” said Sarjveladze.
According to the chairman of the committee, the amnesty project will also apply to those convicts who have been sentenced to life imprisonment and who are serving 15, 20, and some of them 25 years in prison. Sarjveladze separately mentioned Article 260, which deals with drug crimes.
“Accordingly, those convicted of committing a crime under Article 260 of the Criminal Code, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment (and according to our information, currently 3 such persons are serving sentences in Georgian prisons), should change the sentence to 20 years imprisonment. And after that they will have the opportunity to use the improved, relatively preferential conditions provided by the Georgian legislation,” he clarified.
As for those convicted of other crimes who have been sentenced to life imprisonment, according to the chairman of the committee, the current legislation regarding them contains rather vague provisions for changing the sentence and mitigation.
Sarjveladze explained that with this in mind, the current legislative initiative also envisages a significant reform of the procedures for changing the sentence for a person sentenced to life imprisonment. In particular, a special training program will be set up for them, which will allow the judge to make an informed and fair decision within the timeframe set by law. Such an approach will help to create rehabilitation and resocialization prospects for persons sentenced to life imprisonment, and also it is a European standard for the protection of the rights of persons sentenced to life imprisonment.
“Of course, the rights of the injured party will be important at this time as well,” Sarjveladze said.
According to him, the official procedures regarding the bill have started and the public will see it in the coming days.
On the questions regarding the alleged political prisoners, Sarjveladze stressed that it is unlikely that a new amnesty bill will affect Giorgi Rurua.
"I do not know anything about the existence of a political prisoner in our country and in no case can I agree with this assessment. As for spreading it to specific individuals, it would be better to talk about it in the future. It is unlikely that this will affect the people you are questioning."
He also clarified that the draft law on amnesty does not provide for the article under which the Davit Gareji case is being investigated.
According to Anri Okhanashvili, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, the draft law on amnesty is a humane act that concerns non-violent actions.
Okhanashvili called on opposition groups to enter the parliament and take part in the discussion of the bill:
"We call on the opposition groups to come to the Parliament, to carry out their duties, and to be directly involved in the process of discussing this amnesty. If you have a more interesting offer, the door is open, come and fix it.”
According to Sarjveladze, the opposition has a good opportunity to take part in two important issues, since the draft resolution on the country's strategic document, a resolution on the foreign exchange rate of the country has also been registered.
