23:47, 21 December 2004

Court decisions on search and seizure to be subject to appeal

Today, the Georgian Constitutional Court has satisfied a claim of the Georgian NGO Article 42 of the Constitution according to which a judge's decision to conduct search and seizure will be subject to appeal. In its claim, the NGO demanded that several articles of the Georgian criminal procedural code should be declared anti-constitutional. The matter concerns, in particular, the articles that impose a ban on lodging appeals against a judge's decision on search and seizure.

Members of the NGO hold that these articles conflict with Article 42 of the Georgian constitution and Article 6 of the European Convention, which unambiguously state that each person has rights to appeal to court and protect freedom.

Author: Svetlana Mkrtichan, CK correspondent