Amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia

The Criminal Code of Georgia has became the subject of amendments for the Parliament of Georgia.

The amendments aim to improve the quality of activities of the law enforcement agencies, especially in the field of human rights protection.

These amendments envisage the following:

• Law enforcement agencies cannot arrest anybody without particular evidence of guilt;


• Term of standing accused, from initial allegation to final court ruling, is reduced from 24 to 12 months;


• Term of preliminary detention was reduced from 9 to 4 months;


• Defendant must confirm his testimony in court for it to be considered as evidence.

Also, according to the amendments, journalists will have the right to withhold information connected with their profession from an investigation. The changes to the Code also call for enhancing supervision over the prosecution during preliminary investigation.
The new law will come into effect starting from January 1 of 2006.