Nino Lomjaria, the Ombudsman of Georgia, issues a statement on draft law relating to the election of Public Defender.

“The Parliament of Georgia is considering the draft law, which provides for the introduction of a temporary rule for the election of the Public Defender this year, in an accelerated manner. As is known to the public, the incumbent Public Defender"s term of office expires on December 8, 2022. One of the requirements of the European Union, before giving Georgia the candidate status, is to ensure that an independent person is given preference in the process of nominating a new Public Defender and that this process is conducted in a transparent manner, as well as to ensure the Office"s effective institutional independence. According to the explanatory note, the proposed bill serves the purpose of implementing this very recommendation.

Unfortunately, stakeholders did not receive reasonable advance notice about the time of the committee hearing and did not have the opportunity to read the text of the draft law in advance. Without the aforementioned preconditions, it is impossible to even talk about creating the possibility of civil society involvement and inclusive process, which, according to the Public Defender, should be necessarily taken into account when considering such an important issue.

As for the content of the draft law, its explanatory note refers to a number of international standards that have been mentioned by the Public Defender in the documents sent to the Parliament in writing in recent years, emphasizing the need to create detailed legal guarantees for the procedures and rules for the selection of the Public Defender. It should be noted that none of the above-mentioned international standards or documents provide for the temporary procedures for the election of the Public Defender, but indicate the need for the firm determination of the issue at the legislative level.

In addition, according to the draft law, the major issues related to the election of the Public Defender shall be regulated by the Chairman of the Parliament alone, in the form of an order, which excludes the high degree of transparency and involvement. If the current version of the draft law is supported, the Chairman of the Parliament will also be given the opportunity to define the circle of subjects nominating candidates, differently from the law, which raises questions both from the point of view of the rule of law and legislative technique. It would be better to regulate important procedural issues and guarantees by the law, while the order of the Speaker of the Parliament may regulate less significant procedural details.

We hope that the Parliament of Georgia will take into account the mentioned opinions and standards in the process of discussing the draft law, and an impartial, objective and highly qualified candidate will be selected based on these opinions and best standards”, - reads the statement.