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| French judge Sylvie Pantz to share her national and international experience with Georgian officials from judicial and law enforcement agencies over the next 12 months. |
The European Union has deployed its first ever ‘Rule of Law’ mission to Georgia in an effort to help the country in reforming one of the most challenging law enforcement, judiciary and criminal law systems in existence. The head of the mission, French judge Sylvie Pantz, says that human rights will be one of the main focuses of the mission, which is made up of a total of ten civilian experts from EU member states.
Sylvie Pantz, who, after serving as a judge and prosecutor in France for 20 years, gained international experience by heading the investigating division of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, outlined the ‘Rule of Law’ mission’s priorities at a news briefing in Tbilisi on July 22.
“I want to say that we are not bringing money, but we are bringing something much more precious, which is our expertise, our skills and our judicial knowledge,” the head of the mission said at a news briefing in Tbilisi.
“The mission will undertake the guidance for Georgia’s new criminal justice reform strategy, including support in the planning of new legislation, for example the Criminal Procedure Code,” Sylvie Pantz added.
She said that the mission, which will last for a year, will also support the Georgian authorities to coordinate judicial reforms and anti-corruption measures, as well as international and regional cooperation in the area of criminal justice.
Sylvie Pantz says that the mission will try to help Georgia to set up a reformed criminal-justice system, which, as she put, “will not be my French system, it will be your Georgian system.”
Legal experts from EU member states will be co-located in the Ministry of Justice, Interior Ministry, General and District Prosecutors Offices in Tbilisi, Council of Justice, Supreme Court, as well as Tbilisi District Court and Public Defender’s Office, in order to provide Georgian officials with recommendations.
The mission has already outlined the first task for the Georgian officials. Sylvie Pantz expressed hope that by the end of this year, officials from the judicial and law enforcement agencies “will draft the strategy document over the reforms.
“[The strategy document]…will include everything, including structure of judiciary, number of judges, number of courts, salaries for the judges, training of the judges, discipline for the judges and the same [provisions] in regard to the prosecutors and Ombudsman,” Sylvie Pantz said.
Fact-finding visits to the Georgian regions, where the judicial-criminal system faces even more problems than in the capital city, are also scheduled to be conducted by the members of ‘Rule of Law’ mission.
Sylvie Pantz also said that the mission will closely follow all the cases of reported abuses of human rights by law enforcement agencies.
On the occasion of launch of the ‘Rule of Law’ mission to Georgia, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Tbilisi-based Human Rights Information and Documentation Center (HRIDC) sent an open letter to Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, on July 9, expressing concern over the recent evolution of human rights in Georgia.
“This evolution may reveal a gap between the declarations aroused by the [Georgia’s] new authorities in favor of democracy and the reality,” the open letter reads.
“The increasing number of torture, inhuman and humiliating treatments” is a matter of concern for the FIDH and the HRIDC.
Sylvie Pantz said that the mission will try “to find keys for solution of this major issue – the human rights.”
President Mikheil Saakashvili said at a meeting with the Georgian NGO leaders on July 6 that reforms are being implemented in the law enforcement agencies and these violations, that are occurring right now, will be gradually be eradicated.
Launch of the ‘Rule of Law’ mission follows the EU’s decision to include the South Caucasus countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia into the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).
EU officials say that both launching of the ‘Rule of Law’ mission and the inclusion of Georgia into the ENP emphasizes Georgia’s, and the entire South Caucasus’, importance for the European Union.