The Head of Special Investigation Service presented the draft guideline on the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights to the representatives of Academia

The Special Investigation Service cares for the improvement of the legal status of the affected citizens and sets a precedent to provide the criminal case materials accessible for the interested citizens.

Today, the Head of the Special Investigation Service, Koka Katsitadze and the Deputy Head, Natia Songhulashvili presented to the participants of the Academia a new Guideline developed on the basis of the recommendation and practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

Koka Katsitadze introduced the participants to the basic principles of the document, which allow not only a victim but also any interested citizen to have an access with the case materials of violent crimes committed by law enforcement officers.

Involving a possible victim in the criminal case investigation and providing him/her with comprehensive information about the progress of the investigation is an important component of conducting an effective, objective and impartial investigation.

This new initiative of the Special Investigation Service will be launched in July, 2022.

"After the meeting with the representatives of the Public Defender's Office and Human Rights Organizations, today we presented to the representatives of the academia the guideline developed on the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. We introduced them a very important precedent, when not only a victim but also any interested citizen will be able to access and get acquainted with the materials of violent crimes committed by law enforcement officers. This will make the investigation process even more open and transparent,” said Koka Katsitadze  Head of the Special Investigation Service.

According to the recommendations developed by the Special Investigation Service, the special terms and conditions are defined for the victim to get acquainted with the criminal case materials, as well as the procedure for providing information.

"These are crimes (paragraphs) where the potential accused is one of the pillars of the public service, in which cases the trust and openness is even lower among the people to believe in independent structure - a special investigative service - as ameticulously defender of the rights of the potential victims and the legal norms,” said Levan Makharashvili, the independent lawyer.

"Today we got acquainted with the initiative of the Special Investigation Service how inform the alleged victim. This is a very important document as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its case law, practically obliges the investigation services to inform the potential victim from the very beginning of the investigation with the circumstances and the facts, which will become the evidence criteria. More open practical procedures for providing information, will help the service to fulfil the requirements of the European Court of Human Rights and the case law of the International Criminal Court,” said Giorgi Dgebuadze, Assistant Professor at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.

According to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the victim of a crime should be involved in the investigation process as much as it is necessary to meet his/her interests.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Special Investigation Service, the Bar Association of Georgia, the Legal Aid Service and the Academia.