Preliminary Joint Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia

The Opinion, requested on 21 May 2015 by the First Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia, dealt with a new system for the appointment and accountability of the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia. Overall, the Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR and the CCPE/DGI consider that the reform of the Prosecutor’s Office goes into the right direction. However, the Georgian authorities are encouraged to pursue further changes to ensure the depoliticisation of the office of the Chief Prosecutor, including by introducing clear qualification and experience criteria; introducing more transparency in the manner of selection of candidates by Parliament; ensuring that the power to nominate prosecutors to the Prosecutorial Council does not belong exclusively to the top officials of the prosecutorial system; introducing further guarantees for the independence of the Prosecutorial Council, and by clearly defining the coercive powers of the Special Prosecutor, as well as the nature of the investigation he/she may conduct.