GYLA Report: Evaluating the March 7-9 Civil Protest – Legality, Proportionality and Human Rights Violations

31/10/2023 - 17:13

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association issued a report, assessing the authorities’ response to the March 7-9 civil protests, both in terms of the decision to disperse the rallies and the legality/proportionality of the means used, as well as in terms of identifying other types of human rights violations during the rally.

According to the GYLA, the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to dissolve the rallies violates the Constitution of Georgia, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly and manifestation. The gathering of the rally participants and their peaceful enjoyment of the demonstrations were repeatedly interfered with without any legitimate purpose. GYLA, states that in some cases the authorities failed to properly manage the tense situation. The watchdog stresses that the authorities didn’t take the opportunity to negotiate with the organizers or participants of the protest.

As a result of the assessment of the legality and proportionality of the use of force by the state during the rally on March 7-9, 2023, GYLA found that the representatives of law enforcement bodies repeatedly violated the legislation:

Instead of an individual and limited response to violations of a local nature, the Ministry of Interior made an illegal decision to disperse a peaceful protest;
In some cases, the use of special means was initiated without prior warning;
Violation of the obligation to separate law-breaking and peaceful participants during the operation to disperse the rally and, accordingly, during the use of special means;
Simultaneous use of special means in violation of the rules established by the legislation;
Illegal and disproportionate use of special means (pepper spray in the face, water cannons and tear gas canisters);
Verbal and physical abuse of peaceful demonstrators;
Use of force, illegal and mass arrests;
Obstruction of media representatives in their professional activities.

During the protests of March 7-9, it became clear that the Code of Administrative Offenses and the arrests/judicial practice based on it continue to be a tool to further restrict the space for the exercise of civil rights. In particular:

Cases of mass illegal detention of people were revealed: In most of the cases, the police did not arrest specific lawbreakers, but sometimes they also arrested those who were simply caught during the operation to disperse the rally;
The issue of defining the rights granted to detainees by law is also problematic. Detainees were generally not informed of their rights, and in some cases the detainees were not given access to their relatives, friends and lawyers;
Shortcomings were noted in the completion of detention records. The time of detention and the details of the detainees were incorrectly recorded in several records;
The Ministry of the Interior unjustifiably extended the 24-hour detention period by another 24 hours and did not properly justify the objective necessity for doing so;
One of the main challenges for the defense was that insufficient time was given to gather evidence. In addition, hearings were held outside working hours and sometimes the defense was not informed of the time of their commencement;
The study of case materials and court decisions showed that that the court is not motivated to require the prosecution to provide objective evidence (e.g. body camera footage), or to call a neutral witness. Also, in the majority of cases, the decisions do not specify what constitutes insulting the police and/or obstructing law enforcement officials in the performance of their official duties;
The court mostly found the persons guilty of violating the law and mainly used a fine as a sanction;;
The facts of improper processing of personal data were revealed from the case materials.

According to the GYLA, it is alarming that during the dispersal of the rally or during administrative arrests, some demonstrators were subjected to ill-treatment, both verbal and physical, and in some cases the practice of using disposable handcuffs was also problematic.

GYLA recommends:

To Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia:

Due to the high public interest, to publicize the developed and approved security action plan for management/dissolution of the rally;
In order to de-escalate tensions during the rally, make timely use of communication, negotiation, and dialogue resources;
To strictly instruct the law enforcement officers on the necessity to separate the peaceful and law-breaking participants of the rally from each other and to use only individual and proportional means against the law-breakers when responding to cases of local and incidental nature;
To ensure the supervision of the use of special means by law enforcement officials in accordance with the rules;
Provide staff training on the functions, responsibilities and rights of media representatives, especially on their role during operations;
Ensure the introduction of appropriate standards and conduct appropriate training for law enforcement officers to separate media representatives from demonstrators during the dispersal of the rally;
Detention of participants in rallies should be carried out only when there are legal grounds and without using excessive force;
To conduct a strict accounting of RoboCop equipment in order to identify those law enforcement officers who have exceeded their official authority;
A detailed description of the fact of the offense shall be made in the record of the administrative offense;
If it is not possible to administratively place the detained persons in isolation, they should undergo appropriate medical examination;
Police officers should be trained on the prerequisites of administrative detention, preparation of documentation on administrative offences and proper communication with detained persons;

To Special Investigation Service:

Ensure effective investigation of cases of disproportional use of force by law enforcement officials, including crimes committed against media representatives, and, taking into account the existing high public interest, provide regular information to the public on the progress of the investigation and the investigative measures taken;
Ensure a full and objective investigation of arbitrary detentions, physical violence against detainees and other circumstances.

To the Parliament of Georgia:

To carry out a fundamental reform of the Code of Administrative Offences, as a result of which the existing legislation will be replaced by a new Code in accordance with the Constitution and international standards, and the practice of using it for political purposes, as a tool of the police regime, will end;
To abolish administrative imprisonment as a form of punishment provided for an administrative offence;
The rights guaranteed to the accused by the criminal procedural legislation will be applied to the offences provided for by the Code of Administrative Offences.

To court:

Judges should allow a reasonable period of time for the consideration of the administrative offense case;
Judges should reject the practice of recognizing a person as an offender only on the basis of police reports and their explanations, and should rule in favor of the person held administratively responsible in case of doubt that is not confirmed by the evidence.

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