Workshop, Tbilisi, April 18, 2005 Liberty Institute (LI) organized a workshop at the Judicial Training Center on the new Law on the Freedom of Speech and Expression. The goal of the workshop was to promote the law and increase awareness about the law among judges, lawyers and mass media representatives.

Liberty Institute staff members Levan Ramishvili, Ako Minashvili, Maiko Okruashvili, Irakli Kotetishvili and Tamar Kintsurashvili presented the new legal regime established under the law. Kote Kublashvili – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court participated in the workshop as a guest speaker. Participants, heads of the Tbilisi District Court and regional courts as well as media lawyers and journalists had an opportunity to ask questions and share experiences on important issues, such as the burden of proof and legal aspects of editorial independence.

“Trainings and workshops targeted for practicing judges and lawyers will have a crucial impact. The law on Freedom of Speech and Expression was adopted almost a year ago, however it has never been fully implemented due to lack of awareness among legal professionals”- said Tamar Kintsurashvili from Liberty Institute.

“The implementation of this law is very important for us as it is based on precedential justice of the European Court of Human Rights.”- said Chief Justice Kote Kublashvili. He also mentioned that some of the grave violations of freedom of speech due to illegal or unfair decisions by courts are caused by the heterogeneity of the Georgian court practices. He further stated that in the nearest future Georgian courts will be obliged to consider decisions and practices of Supreme Court as obligatory, thus bringing into life the idea of case law in Georgia.

The two volume manual - “Freedom of Expression”, compiled and published by LI in 2005 was presented as a useful source for judges, lawyers and media representatives. Materials introducing the new Law on the Freedom of Speech and Expression were distributed among workshop participants.

Liberty Institute will conduct more workshops in Tbilisi and regions of Georgia.