2015-03-12
The government session chaired by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili took place in the Government Administration. The Cabinet discussed 23 items on the agenda. The Georgian Government approved the draft of Juvenile Justice Code, which is specialized in teenagers (18 years of age) and includes the establishment of judicial system that meets the requirements of European standards and the UN Convention for the Protection of Child's Rights.
Main news is creation of specialized justice for the persons under 18. After enforcing this Code, Georgia will have the specialized police, investigators, prosecutors and judges, who will investigate and review the cases on children, the obligation undertaken by the Convention on Child's Rights (Article 40, Paragraph 3).
The new Code incorporates the norms that regulate juvenile responsibility, administrative and criminal proceedings, law enforcement and other issues into the single legislative act and regulates the new standards and mechanisms to protect the teenagers' rights. The minimum age (14) of criminal responsibility, still remains unchanged.
According to the new Code, the period between filing charges and pre-trial detention is reduced from 60 to 40 days and conviction is annulled at the very end of serving the sentence; however, if a minor commits an offense repeatedly, previous conviction record will be taken into account while reaching a verdict.
Consequently, the main purpose of the Code is giving a chance of re-socialization to a minor. Also, keeping the accused in custody is reduced from nine to six months. Referring to the children's case, it should be also noted that the new rule of interrogation of witnesses will become effective. As for the conditions of serving the sentence, according to the Code, the minor defendant cannot be placed together with an adult not only in a cell, but also in an establishment.
According to the government decision, the state will make over for free (for 25 years) the legal right to build on 48043 m2 non-agricultural land, located in the village Nokalakevi, Senaki District to the Rugby Union. In return, , the Georgian Rugby Union shall build the rugby stadium with three natural layers and the tribune for minimum five hundred viewers (also changing rooms, doctor's room, greenery, parking, pedestrian paths, etc.) on the transferred property. The Organization will spend 300 000 GEL for these works.
Implementation of this project is very important to support the development of this sport on the local level. Rugby is quite popular in Senaki District, where, despite the absence of adequate infrastructure, several rugby sections are functioning. All Festival age groups of A and B Youth League are exercising here as well as the adult teams of 2nd League and women, supervised by the licensed coaches. Overall, 400 players are involved in the process of exercise. For the sake of assisting them and managing this process better, it was decided to build this rugby base.
Prime Minister's Press Office