Koka Katsitadze, Head of Special Investigation Service and Giorgi Kvaratskhelia, the First Deputy met with representatives of Social Justice Center

The Head of the Special Investigation Service introduced the specific directions and challenges, future plans and institutional development concepts of the Service to the participants of the meeting.

Particular attention was focused on the institutional and functional strengthening of the investigative body, namely, the improvement of legal status of affected citizens and crime prevention issues were discussed, both in terms of legal framework and investigation practices. In order to strengthen coordination between law enforcement agencies, the initiative of the Service to establish an Official Crime Prevention Council wasalso discussed.

The purpose of the Council will be to ensure a prompt response in the field of official crime, as well as to identify existing gaps and challenges and to facilitate joint and coordinated work of law enforcement agencies to eliminate and prevent them. The effective use of special protection measures as a significant guarantee of improving the legal status of potential victims was also highlighted.

Koka Katsitadze also focused on increasing the degree of independence of the investigator and his functions as a fundamental innovation, which implies the entry of special investigative service staff at the penitentiary institutions without barriers for the immediate response to complaints.

The Special Investigation Service, based on an analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights of Strasbourg, begins to develop internal documents, which will based on the existing investigative experiences as well. Elaborated document should ensure the maximum involvement of all potential victims in criminal cases, as well as access to case materials and the sharing of their views in the investigation process. An internal document is planned to ensure effective protection of witnesses and victims, as well as to develop a common practice for the application of special protection measures.

The participants of the meeting expressed their readiness for future cooperation with the Special Investigation Service and agreed to participate in the elaboration of above mention internal document.

"The Special Investigation Service is launching concrete measures to improve the legal status of the affected citizens, which means changing the legal framework as well as the investigative practice. We have provided the representatives of the Social Justice Center with the detailed information and underlined that the involvement and participation of human rights organizations in the implementation of this reform will be very important, "- noted Koka Katsitadze.

"The existence of a strong and effective independent investigative service will promote the protection of the rights of citizens, will limit and prevent as much as possible police violence and ill-treatment of citizens. We have been working on these issues and will continue to do so in the future. We want to be actively involved in the activities of the Special Investigation Service, to have cooperation based on the resources and opportunities. We talked about the needs and challenges facing the Investigative Service. First of all, it is very important for this agency to have adequate infrastructural and human resources, it is necessary to remove the legislative and practical barriers so that this service can actually independently, quickly and efficiently investigate the cases under its investigation, which ultimately guarantees that "Rights will be protected and, on the other hand, there will be high public trust in the service," said Guro Imnadze  Justice Program Director at Social Justice Center.