Georgian Court Watch launches innovative project of court monitoring

On September 18, 2021, Nazi Janezashvili held a briefing at the Gori court.

Georgian Court Watch is launching an innovative court monitoring project.

An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of a stable democracy. Judicial independence is a fundamental requirement that enables the judiciary to protect democracy and human rights. Despite the legislative changes carried out in Georgia, the degree of independence, effectiveness, and accountability of the

judiciary still poses a challenge. It is clear the judicial system and society are alienated from each other. One of the reasons for this is that judicial reforms have been going on for years, but the general public was not involved in these processes, so the voice of the citizens was not properly heard. We believe that the time has come to fill the gap that exists between the court and the citizens.

“Citizens’ Court Monitoring Initiative” is a new project of Court Watch, the task

of which is to create a tool for citizens’ participation in the process of improving the court. Therefore, Court Watch announces the acceptance of volunteers to participate in the court monitoring project. Monitoring of court proceedings will be carried out by citizens representing various fields, although they are not lawyers by profession. And before the start of the monitoring of court processes, they will be given lectures on relevant legal issues. At this stage, the organization will implement the project in Gori.

The project is implemented with the support of USAID/PROLoG.