Parliament of Georgia chairman signs so-called wiretapping law, vetoed by the president
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, September 15, 2022
According to Shalva Papuashvili, the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, he signed the law on secret investigative activities, which the president vetoed.
According to Papuashvili, the reason for the "political veto" of the president was that he heard criticism "from some groups" about the topic of the law and the involvement of the parties.
"Today I signed the law on making changes to the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia, which refers to secret investigative actions. As you know, the President used a veto regarding this law on June 23 of this year, which she called a political veto, thus emphasizing that she had no legal comments regarding this law. However, she considered its adoption politically inadvisable, as she heard criticism from some groups about the pace of the review process of this law and the involvement of the interested parties," said Shalva Papuashvili.
According to Papuashvili, after the President's address, the Venice Commission published an opinion on August 26, where, according to Papuashvili, it could not establish the law's contradiction with any European or international standards related to human rights.
He said the Venice Commission "based on interviews with individual actors" reiterated arguments about pace and stakeholder engagement.
According to Papuashvili, there was an attempt to form such a perception toward this law. However, according to him, the draft law was initiated in April 2022, and there was no request for its consideration in an accelerated manner, therefore its consideration was conducted in a standard manner.
Papuashvili stated that the review process was extended by 3 weeks at the request of international partners, and the parliament adopted the law in 2 months after its initiation, in the third reading, and in 5 months, taking into account the overcoming of the veto, which, according to Papuashvili, is "everything but speed".
According to him, all interested parties were involved in the discussion of the draft law, as well as in overcoming its veto: state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and international actors. The Chairman of the Parliament states that "everyone had the opportunity and enough time to submit substantive remarks regarding the non-compliance of this project with any standard of European or international law".
The Speaker of the Parliament declares that the draft law fully complies with international legal standards and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.
As for the expediency of adopting the law, according to Papuashvili, the question of the expediency of adopting the law is fully within the competence of the Parliament of Georgia, and the Parliament has fully studied the issues related to the draft law for 5 months and confirmed the decision on September 6.
According to Papuashvili, there is no legal or expediency argument that would prevent the implementation of this law, and therefore I signed this law.
"The question of the appropriateness of this or that law is fully within the competence of the Parliament of Georgia. The Parliament deliberated on this issue for a total of 5 months and finally confirmed its decision on September 6, including the feasibility of adopting the law.
Therefore, there is no legal or expediency argument that would prevent the implementation of this law, and therefore I signed this law," said Shalva Papuashvili.
The Parliament of Georgia overcame the President's veto on the wiretapping law on September 6 and adopted it in its original version.
