GYLA submitted its opinions on the Draft Law on Amnesty to the Parliament of Georgia

GYLA submitted its opinions on the draft law on Amnesty [1] initiated by Mikheil Sarjveladze, Member of Parliament of Georgia, to the Human Rights and Legal issues Committees.

The draft law on amnesty is mostly related to persons charged/convicted of drug-related crimes. According to the explanatory note of the draft law, it reads that the act will affect up to 800 persons placed in a penitentiary institution, out of which 680 persons are serving their conviction for committing a crime under Article 260 of the Criminal Code. Under years of strict drug policy, the Amnesty Act will positively impact the rehabilitation/re-socialization of the persons convicted of drug-related crimes. However, the Parliament needs to start working on systemic change in drug policy in time and regulate the norms provided by the Criminal Code on drug-related crimes.

However, there are some issues covered by the draft law that need further clarification. Such is the issue of restoration of rights deprived due to drug-related crimes, different preconditions imposed for exemption from criminal liability or sentence concerning different types of crimes, and the existing exemption record from the sentence, which does not relate to the type of a sentence - fine, etc.

Therefore, GYLA considers it necessary to submit additional opinions to help improve the draft law on amnesty and correct the shortcomings in it.

In more detail, you can see the submitted opinions.

[1]  Draft Law on Amnesty, (07-3/3/10; 16.12.2020). Initiator: Member of Parliament of Georgia: Mikheil Sarjveladze. Available: https://info.parliament.ge/?fbclid=IwAR0qC_q5bbvHCCHNje6RwzEvNpHE_jIUKyPjW9TDWVsKg4ef4c4Wd4MKsYs#law-drafting/21107 .