Former Chief Prosecutor criticizes Prosecutor’s Office
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, September 22
The Prosecutor’s Office uses the same format that was inherited from the previous government, says the former Chief of the Prosecutor’s Office under the Georgian Dream coalition, Archil Kbilashvili, on September 22. Kbilashvili has founded the NGO Georgia’s European Choice and presented its first project on September 22.
Kbilashvili was frequently named as a “weak” chief prosecutor by the United National Movement. When the coalition founder Bidzina Ivanishvili left politics with the aim to empower the civil sector, Kbilashvili did the same.
Kbilashvili claims that he is well aware of the system’s shortcomings and the concept elaborated by the NGO aims at removing this defect.
The former official says that the first project has two directions – assisting in the reform of the Prosecutor’s Office, increasing its professionalism and impartiality and perfection of preventive measures.
“We hope that the concept we are working on will provide a real picture about the system arrangement. Working on the concept will be finalized by the end of the year,” Kbilashvili states.
Kbilashvili states that the United States government decided to finance the project in July of 2014.
The Georgian Dream government states that it is open for recommendations. They describe Kbilashvili as professional. The United National Movement is skeptical over the organization. They also stress that freeing the Prosecutor’s Office from governmental influence is not in the interests of the Georgian Dream administration.
Analyst Vazha Beridze believes that Kbilashvili will explain the beneficial recommendations based on his profound experience in law. However, the analyst suggests that the government fails to carry out systemic changes in the Prosecutor’s office.
“The restoration of justice and the systemic changes do not match. There are people in the Prosecutor’s Office who are faithful to the previous government as well, so that hinders the reform of the system. I believe that there is a will in the current government to undertake the reform. However, the main topic now for the body and the government is the restoration of justice,” the analyst told The Messenger. When asked how the Prosecutor’s Office will manage to restore justice if there are so many UNM supporters within the body, the analyst responded saying that the leadership of the structure is not loyal to the UNM and they will manage to deal with the issue. Concerning the government’s interference in the issues of the Prosecutor’s Office, the analyst stated that he had no evidence to accuse the government of interference. However, he said that it appears that the government is still involved in the body related matters.
